WESTFIELD, Mass. – Thursday night's game between the Wesleyan women's basketball team and Westfield State was played at a breakneck pace but in the end it was the Owls who prevailed, 96-82, over the Cardinals in the Woodward Center.
 
Wesleyan leaned on Tori DaCosta '25 who supplied plenty of offense in the first quarter, scoring 11 of the Cardinals' 23 points in the frame on 5-of-8 shooting while she added two blocks on the defensive end. The Cardinal defense held the Owls to just 29.2 percent shooting as Wesleyan led 23-19 after one.
 
The second quarter featured 52 total points scored, with each side netting 26 apeice. DaCosta, Olivia Quinn '26, and Meghan Kirck '28 each scored six points in the quarter. Back-to-back three's from Kirck made it 29-19 Wesleyan just over two minutes into the stanza. The Cardinals' lead hovered around the 10-point mark up until the final minutes when Westfield cut the deficit to 49-45 at the half.
 
Westfield began to impose their will on the game in the third quarter, holding Wesleyan to 16 points while forcing the Cardinals into 15 turnovers. The Owls took full advantage of those miscues, going 12-for-24 from the floor on the way to a 27-point quarter, leading 72-65 heading into the fourth.
 
A gritty effort from the Cardinals saw the team use an 8-0 run to cut the deficit down to 75-73 with 5:08 remaining. It was still a four-point game with 3:36 left before Maddie Pond made a basket for Westfield followed by a Sophia DeAngelis three-pointer that grew the Owls' lead to nine points with 2:34 left. Plenty more offense came down the stretch but the margin was too big to overcome as Wesleyan fell 96-82 to the Owls.
 
DaCosta tossed in 21 points and 10 rebounds while Aviva Schnitzer '28 totaled 12 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists for her first career double-double.
 
Quinn finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Kirck had 13 points, six assists, four rebounds, and here steals, and Felicia Fongemie '27 tallied 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
 
Wesleyan is back at home on Super Bowl Sunday with a 2 PM clash against Bates in Silloway Gym.