Danbury, Conn.—Junior forward Rachel Riley (Coventry, RI) registered her 13th double-double of the season with 15 point and 10 rebounds, but the Rhode Island College women's basketball team fell, 74-53, to Western Connecticut in a Little East Conference contest played at Feldman Arena.

The Anchorwomen (15-6, 6-5 LEC) see a modest three-game winning streak come to an end in the loss. Although RIC is alone in fourth place in the Little East, each of the club's five losses have come at the hands of the top three teams. Western Connecticut (18-3, 10-1 LEC) remains in sole possession of first place and sweeps the season series from RIC.

Junior point guard Nicole Girard (Foster, RI) chipped in with 11 points, five boards and three assists.

RIC shot just 30 percent (17-for-57) from the field and made just one (1-for-12) of its three-point attempts.

 Four Colonials scored in double figures, paced by senior center Melissa Teel (Hamden, CT) who turned in another Herculean effort on the glass with 22 boards to go along with 11 points and five blocks. She became the 17th player in WestConn women's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points and fell one rebound short of the school record.

Senior guard Karli Spera (Waterford, CT) scored a game-high 19 points and dished out six assists, in addition to grabbing five boards. Junior guard Stephanie Slonski (Griswold, CT) added 15 points, while freshman forward Sciarra Brandt (Thomaston, CT) contributed 10 points.

 WestConn shot 48 percent (26-for-54) from the field, made 6-of-17 (35 percent) from downtown and held a 41-33 advantage on the glass.

 Rhode Island College ran out to an early, 4-1, lead after two minutes of play, but WestConn answered with a Brandt jumper and two Teel free throws to take a 5-4 lead at the 15:14 mark. The score remained close over the next 10 minutes of play with the score tied at 10, 12, and 16.  With just over five minutes to play, a Spera free throw put WestConn up by four, 20-16, and the Colonials closed out the half by going on a 19-5 run to take a 39-21 lead into the locker room at intermission.

 The Anchorwomen score the first basket of the second half to narrow the margin to 16 points, but the WestConn defense didn't allow the visitors to get any closer.  Sophomore Nicole Eanniello (Danbury, CT) converted a layup with 12 minutes remaining to give the Colonials a 22-point lead and a Brandt jumper pushed the advantage to 25 points, 63-38, with under nine minutes remaining. Rhode Island College scored the next five points, but WestConn's defense and Teel's rebounding never let the Anchorwomen mount a serious threat and the Colonials cruised to a 74-53 final margin of victory.

In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will continue Little East Conference play at home against Southern Maine on Saturday, Feb. 12.