By Liam Gambon
The Framingham State Rams took on Keene State on Friday Nov. 19 in the KSC Tip-off Tournament.
The Rams came out strong in the first quarter and ended the quarter up 20-10. Raegan Mulherin scored 11 of the 20 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Framingham extended their lead to 41-23 by halftime by outscoring Keene State in the second quarter 21-13. The bulk of the scoring in the second quarter came from Mary Kate O’Day, who scored 10 of the 21 points.
Keene State outscored Framingham in the third quarter 22-14 to come within 10 points of the Rams.
A 25-19 advantage for the Rams in the final quarter gave Framingham the 80-64 victory.
Mulherin led all scorers with 21 points, followed by O’Day who came away with 19. Tiphani Harris recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Emily Velozo came off the bench to score a solid 13 points while shooting over 62 percent from the field. Lauren Donahue led the game in assists with five.
The Owls shot 33.8 percent from the field while the Rams shot 40 percent. The Rams led in every stat except turnovers.
Framingham took on Lasell next, away from home for the third straight game.
The Rams started the game on top, finishing the first quarter up 15-9 with the bulk of their scoringfcoming from O’Day, who put up eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, while grabbing three rebounds.
The Rams put up another 15 points by halftime outscoring Lasell 15-7 in the second quarter. O’Day ledfthe way again with five points shooting 2-of-3.
In the third quarter Lasell was able to outscore Framingham, 20-19 to make the score 49-36 Rams.fO’Day continued her solid game, dumping in 10 points in the third quarter alone.
Both teams matched each other for 10 points each in the final quarter, giving the Rams the 59-46fvictory. O’Day had a stand-out game, scoring 24 points shooting 62 percent from the field, while crashing the boards for six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Harris and Mallory DeFeo controlled the boards in the frontcourt and defended well. Harris pulled down nine rebounds, and had four steals and a block. DeFeo had eight rebounds, three steals, and a block. Velozo came o? the bench to score six points and stole the ball twice.
The Rams hosted Newbury College next in a tight back-and-forth down to the last-minute matchup.
Framingham held a 19-13 advantage in the first quarter mainly due to the 10 points Harris chipped in, to go along with three rebounds and a steal. Steals were a big advantage for the Rams in the first quarter as they came away with nine, while Newbury only had one. DeFeo led the way with three steals, followed by O’Day with two.
The second quarter barely belonged to Newbury as they outscored Framingham 14-13 to cut the Rams’ lead to 32-27. In the third, Framingham stretched their lead to 55-48, backed by O’Day’s seven points.
The final quarter was a close one as the game was tied at 68 with 47 seconds left after two Newbury free throws were made. Forty seconds later, Lauren Donahue missed a layup but then collected the rebound and laid it in to put the Rams up by two with 17 seconds left. Framingham was able to keep Newbury from scoring and following a couple of foul shots, the Rams won the game 72-68. Harris played solidly in the final quarter scoring six points while collecting four rebounds.
The Rams were led by Harris’ fantastic play as she recorded her fourth double-double on the season in just five games by scoring 21 points and collecting 11 rebounds. Mulherin followed Harris with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. DeFeo led the way in steals with four and in blocks with two, while also recording six points and five rebounds. Velozo played solid off the bench once again as she came away with nine points, two steals, and four assists. Each starter for Framingham had two or more steals in the game.