Springfield, MA (December 31, 2014) – Springfield College shot a blistering 55.6 percent in the opening half and held off a second-half rally from the DeSales University women's basketball team, 64-47, in the championship game of the Hampton Inn West Springfield Naismith Classic on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Sophomores Morgan McCollian and Megan Baird were each named to the All-Tournament for the weekend for the Bulldogs (7-4 overall).  McCollian finished with 21 points today after notching a double-double in the win on Tuesday, while Baird totaled a game-high 18 points in the win over Staten Island yesterday tying the tournament record for three-pointers in a game with six.
 
DSU opened the game strong taking a 5-2 lead on a three from senior Mikelyn Mackavage and two free throws from McCollian before Springfield took over in the first-half.
 
SC (6-4 overall) went on a 17-2 run over the next 6:12 to take a 19-7 lead and finished the half on an 11-0 spurt over the final 6:43 taking a 36-13 lead into the break.
 
DSU hit just 3-for-19 (15.8%) from the field in the opening half while the Pride hit 15-for-27 (55.6%) to build the commanding lead.
 
It was a very slow start to the second-half as both teams combined for just three points over the first 5:19 of the half.  Freshman Emily Kiersnowski broke the drought with a three and the Bulldogs began battling back using a 10-0 run highlighted by two three's from freshman Kaitlin Kelly to cut the deficit down to 12 points (51-39) with 7:08 to play.
 
Springfield responded scoring the next five points to push the lead back up to 17 points and the Bulldogs were unable to get any closer than 12 the rest of the way.
 
McCollian finished 6-for-10 from the field and hit all nine of her free throws in the loss.  Kelly added a season-high nine points off the bench all coming in the second-half.
 
SC's Heather Lewis was named the tournament MVP totaling 16 points in the win on Wednesday and Lexi Windwer added 11 points for the Pride.
 
DeSales returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Ursinus College for a non-conference game beginning at 1:00 pm.