BOSTON, Mass. –Riley Harlow scored a game-high 29 points to help the Fitchburg State University women's basketball team open the 2024-2025 season with a 77-64 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology on Saturday.

Wentworth freshman Taylor Garabedian had a memorable debut, posting a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Falcons jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first 3:55 of the contest, with Wentworth's lone points coming from Samantha Jones on a jumper at the 7:28 mark. A three pointer from Regan Madonia cut the deficit to 10-5 and started an 8-2 run that saw a Maddie Gaynor jumper with 3:29 left make it a 12-10 game. The Falcons pushed their lead to 17-12 on a pair of Harlow free throws and led, 18-14, at the end of the quarter.
• A putback of her own miss from Garabedian made it 18-16 just 28 seconds into the second quarter, however, 11 straight Fitchburg State points raised the Falcon lead to 229-16 with 5:49 remaining. Jones ended the run with a layup but Harlow connected on a three on the next possession to make it a 32-18 game. Fitchburg State built its lead to as many as 15 on three separate occasions before a layup from Madonia, a three from Brianna Carroll, and a Garabedian layup made it 39-31 at the break.
• Adonia cut the deficit to six on a pair of occasions, including after a jumper with 6:34 left in the third. After Harlow and Garabedian exchanged threes, the Falcons took a 55-45 lead with 1:56 left on a Kaelynn Tanner layup and one of two free throws with 37 seconds left pushed the Falcon lead to 11 (57-46).
• Jones opened the fourth quarter with a layup, bringing the deficit back to single digits, however, a 10-0 run gave the visitors a 67-48 lead with 4:00 remaining. Wentworth cut the lead to 12 on a pair of Gabby Amoddio free throws late in the game but was unable to get any closer.
• In addition to Harlow, Stephanie Hart also scored in double figures, scoring 19 points and grabbing 18 rebounds.
• Madonia was also in double figures for the Black & Gold, scoring 14 points. Amoddio added eight points and 10 rebounds.

SERIES NOTES:

• Today was the seventh all-time meeting between the two teams.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth is at Mount Holyoke on Wednesday.

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