Fitchburg State Races Past MCLA, 74-54

Falcons notch second conference victory behind Fahey's 27 points

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. (January 19, 2013) –Fitchburg State outscored MCLA 41-22 in the closing half to break open a close game and earn its second conference victory of the year, 74-54 this afternoon.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 2-3 in MASCAC play and 9-8 overall, while the Trailblazers dip to 8-10 overall, 0-5 in league play.

Junior Amy Fahey (Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) had a monster night tallying game highs of 27 points and 15 rebounds.  Three other Falcons joined her in double figures, as Megan Wodzinski (Littleton, Mass./Littleton) had 17 and both Kelsey Johnston (Shirley, Mass./Saint Bernards) andMadeline Merchant (Gardner, Mass./Monty Tech) chipped in with 13 and 15 respectively.

After the Falcons led 33-32 at halftime, MCLA scored the first five points out of the locker room to take the lead (37-33).  The Falcons responded however, pushing the ball up the floor in transition and generating easy baskets.  Fitchburg State knotted the score at 41-41 and then surged ahead with an 8-0 run for a 49-41 lead with fifteen minutes to play.

The Fitchburg State lead would remain at eight points a few minutes later until the Falcons went on a spurt to close out MCLA.  With the score now at 55-47, the Falcons would outscore MCLA 18-6 to move out to their largest lead of the night at 73-53.  Many baskets in the run were the result of the Falcons up tempo offense and Fahey. 

Fitchburg held the lead the entire first half.  Their largest lead was nine at 13-4 following an 8-0 spurt as Wodzinski and Johnston each drilled three pointers.  MCLA would battle back to trim the deficit to 24-22 after a Kaitlyn Chenevert free throw, but the Falcons once again answered with a 7-0 run using another Wodzinski triple to start the spurt making the score 31-24. 

Fahey did most of her damage in the strong second half, scoring 16 points with ten boards as well.  The Falcons shot a solid 52% in the second half and outrebounded MCLA 26-18 in the half.

Fitchburg State returns to action on Tuesday as it host Westfield State at 5:30 p.m. The Trailblazers will be back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to face Bridgewater State University.