Mizam Tamardze won the national championship at the 133-pound weight class for Springfield Technical Community College in the first ever national tournament for nonscholarship wrestling programs.
The Ferrentino Formula is working well these days for the American International College women’s basketball team.
For the third straight game, sophomore forward Krista Ferrentino of East Longmeadow recorded a double-double Saturday, and the result was the Yellow Jackets’ third straight victory, 67-64.
Ferrentino scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds to help AIC (10-7, 7-6) come away with an important Northeast-10 Conference victory over Merrimack (11-6, 7-6) at North Andover.
It was Ferrentino’s seventh double-double of the season.
Point guard Alyssa Roach recorded a game-high 22 points for the Jackets while junior shooting guard Sarah Noble contributed 12.
AIC led 41-34 at the half by closing with a 12-3 run. However, the Warriors came back with a 14-3 run to take a 48-44 lead six minutes into the second half. The Yellow Jackets came back with a 13-3 run of their own, taking the lead for good at 54-53 on a pair of foul shots by Erica Johnson.
AIC led 66-64 with 12 seconds to play, and Roach converted the second of two free throws for the final score.
Westfield St. 81, Salem St. 51: The present and the future were well represented as the Owls ripped apart the Vikings at the Woodward Center in Westfield.
Senior Jenny Bell of Northampton was a perfect six-shooter, going 6 for 6 from the floor for 14 points and adding six steals, while freshman shooting guard Keri Dolodorian scored a game-high 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting as the Owls improved to 13-7, 5-2 MASCAC.
Nationally ranked sophomore point guard Jen Ashton recorded nine assists and netted 13 points. She now has 114 assists against 68 turnovers this year.
WSU senior Briana Kelly of Hampden went 4 for 5 from the field for 10 points. Junior Tania Ortiz of Holyoke also scored 10 points, going 5 for 10 from the field. She also had four assists and no turnovers to go along with seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
High School of Commerce graduate Gabby Felix had a game-high eight rebounds for Westfield.
WNE 46, Nichols 42: Senior standout Emily Savino scored 18 points as Western New England improved to 10-8, 7-4 Commonwealth Coast Conference with the home win.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Westfield 70, Salem State 65: Owls senior Matt Devine dominated with 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots for second-place Westfield (15-4, 5-2 MASCAC) in the hard-earned home win over Salem (12-7, 4-3).
Grant Copper of Northampton scored 15 points and added four assists for Westfield.
AIC 78, Merrimack 74: The Yellow Jackets (6-11, 3-10) snapped a six-game losing streak by making an incredible comeback from a 21-point second half-deficit to overcome the Warriors in overtime (7-11, 4-9) at North Andover.
AIC senior Ricky Hudson scored a game-high 25 points on 9-for-18 shooting.
Nichols 100, WNE 92: Don’t blame the Western New England (6-12, 4-7) foul shooters for the home defeat to Nichols (11-7, 6-5) as the Golden Bears sank all 22 of their free throws.
Sinclair Lewis made nearly half of them, going 10 for 10.
WRESTLING
STCC FINISHES FOURTH: In the first ever National Junior College Athletic Association tournament for nonscholarship programs held in Chicago, STCC finished fourth with 92.5 points.
The Rochester (Minn.) Community and Technical College won the championship with 128 points.
For STCC, Mizam Tamardze of West Springfield won the national championship in the 133-pound class, and Brandon Riggins of Norwalk, Conn., earned the crown at 184.
Pat Hope of Agawam took third place at 285, and also secured the most falls in the least amount of time with three pins.
Quoc Pham of Springfield was sixth at 174.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING
Westfield St. 114, St. Joseph 91: Senior Katie Cox of South Hadley celebrated Senior Day by winning the 200 freestyle, and being a member of the victorious 200-medley relay in the final home event of the season.