Willimantic, Conn. – The Trinity College women's basketball team suffered its second straight loss on Thursday evening, falling, 60-27, to in-state rival Eastern Connect State in non-conference action at Geissler Gymnasium. With the loss, the Bantams move to 1-2, while the Warriors won their third straight to improve to 4-0.
Leading by 15 points, 29-14, at the half, Eastern scored the first five points of the second half to push its lead to 20. The lead dipped below 20 only once thereafter in the second half.
ECSU Junior forward Jill Ritrosky was 7-for-10 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes on the way to a season-high 24 points, and Shannon McCourt grabbed 15 of Eastern's 23 first-half rebounds on the way to a career-high 19. Eastern missed all ten of its three-point field goals in the first half, but scored 18 points off Trinity's 18 first-half turnovers and scored 12 points off 11 first-half rebounds. Twenty-three points of Eastern's final scoring total were the result of its 23 offensive rebounds.
After shooting 26.3 percent in the first half, the Bantams managed just 15.4 in the second, finishing at 20.0 percent for the game.
Ritrosky was 10-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the foul line (Eastern was 13-for-14 from the stripe in the game) en route to her game-high 24 points in 28 minutes. McCourt followed Ritrosky with eight points and four steals and senior point guard Kristina Forsman (Newington) chipped in five points, three assists and two steals.
For the third time this season, senior swing player Taylor Higgins (Merrick, N.Y.) led Trinity in scoring. Higgins netted nine points to go with two steals and two rebounds. Sophomore guard Kaitlin Lewis (Demarest, N.J.) played well for the Bantams off the bench scoring five points and junior center Mackenzie Griffin (Stamford, Conn.) added four points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Warriors shot 31 percent from the field and their stout defense held the Bantams to just 20 percent. Eastern held a 52-35 advantage on the boards and forced 22 Trinity turnovers while committing just nine of their own.
Trinity returns to action this Saturday, Nov. 22, hosting Western Connecticut State in the home opener at 1:00 p.m. inside Oosting Gymnasium.