WESTFIELD, Mass. – Seniors Sami Ashton (Clinton, Conn.) and Ashley Howe (Saco, Maine) combined for 40 points on 14-of-20 shooting from the floor in leading the Connecticut College women's basketball team to an 89-70 victory over Westfield State on Tuesday evening at the Woodward Center.

Howe set the tone for the entire evening when she drilled a 3-pointer on the team's first possession of the game. After the visitors fell behind by a 4-3 score, Ashton exploded to score 14 straight points for the Camels by sinking four shots from downtown as well as a layup over a span of just 2:24.

Despite trailing by double digits in the early going, Westfield State (6-11) embarked on a run of its own and slashed the deficit to five at the end of the first quarter. Melissa Gray led the comeback by nailing three trifectas to help make it 24-19 through 10 minutes of action.

The second and third quarters were evenly played, as the Camels edged the Owls on the board by a 43-42 margin during the following 20-minute stretch. However, Connecticut College broke loose again in the fourth and final fame by outscoring the hosts, 22-9, to close out the game.

After Chelsea Moussette made a layup to shrink the gap to four at 67-63, the Camels used a balanced scoring attack to put things away with seven players putting themselves in the scorebook. Ashton found classmate Dana Muckstadt (Dover, Mass.) for an old-fashioned 3-point play, putting the visitors comfortably ahead by 13 at the midway point, while the defense was in the process of not allowing the Owls to score for a full six minutes. Freshman Jaycie Rojik (Scituate, Mass.) then increased the lead to as many as 22 at the charity stripe to help put a stamp on the team's sixth win of the season.

Ashton finished the game with 23 points and eight helpers to lead the way for Connecticut College (6-10), which had 28 assists credited to players on its 33 field goals. She also added four steals. Howe netted 17 points, while Muckstadt had a strong all-around performance with nine points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Westfield State (6-11) got a double-double effort from Melissa Gray, who contributed 32 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to go along with finishing with three steals. Moussette notched 11 assists and eight points.

Connecticut College returns to NESCAC action when it visits Trinity on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.