WILLIMANTIC, Conn.—UMass Boston women's basketball outscored second-seeded Keene State College 34-14 in the second half, to earn their second-consecutive trip to the Little East Conference Championship Game.
THE BASICS
#6 UMass Boston 51, #2 Keene State College 39
(UMass Boston 15-11)
(Keene State 22-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beacons will face-off against top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University for a second-straight year, after falling 64-62 in overtime to the Warriors in last year's finals.
Senior Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) and sophomore Grace Geary (Falmouth, Mass.) paced the way for the Beacons, as they earned their second-consecutive upset win.
Murphy led the Beacons with 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to help the Beacons avoid the three-game sweep at the hands of the Owls. With her 11 points, Murphy passed Eileen Fenton ('91) for second-place in program-history in points with 1,535. She finished the contest with nine offensive rebounds and three blocks in her 57th double-double in 103 career contests.
Geary was the offensive star for the Beacons' second-straight playoff win, as she led all scorers with 22 points. The sophomore guard added six rebounds, one assist and two steals and knocked down 11-of-12 free throws.
Fellow sophomore Raven Kelsey (Boston, Mass.) added five points and nine rebounds, while Taje Burston (Springfield, Mass.) tacked on four points and a team-high four assists.
On the other side, Sandi Purcell led the Owls with 14 points, while Ryanne Williams added nine points and nine rebounds. Junior Stephanie D'Annolfo was limited to just two points, three rebounds and five turnovers in 29 minutes of action.
Things looked grim for UMass Boston in the first quarter, as the Beacons fell behind 7-0 early and 18-8 after 10 minutes of action. The Beacons cut the deficit to a two-possession lead on two occasions in the second quarter, but found themselves trailing 25-17 at the break.
UMass Boston got red-hot after the break for a second-straight game, as the Beacons knocked down 40 percent of their shots in the third-quarter, en-route to a 34-31 lead.
The Beacons opened the half on a 11-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 28-25. Chantel Jordan (Brockton, Mass.) opened the scoring with a made jump shot, and Murphy and Geary quickly followed with five-straight points to cut the deficit to 25-24. Burston gave the Beacons their first lead of the game with a running jumper at 26-25 and Murphy tacked on a layup to push the lead to 28-25.
The two teams traded leads four more times, before Jordan hit a jumper and Katrina Edwards(Springfield, Mass.) hit one of two free throws to push the lead to 34-31.
Neither team could find the range to start the fourth-quarter, as Keene State recorded the first point of the quarter 4:17 in with a lay-in from Kelsey Cognetta.
Geary immediately responded with a 3-pointer and then combined with Murphy for a 9-0 run to push the Beacons' lead out to 44-33 with 2:09 to play.
Keene State came roaring back to cut the deficit to 44-39 with 1:28 to play, but Edwards hit a huge layup with 56 seconds to play to push the lead out to 46-39.
The Beacons knocked down five of eight free throws over the final 36 seconds to ice the game and earn their second-straight upset in the Little East Conference Semifinals.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the win, UMass Boston improved to 4-26 all-time in the Little East Conference Tournament. The victory marked the Beacons' first all-time postseason win against the Owls in four tries.
- UMass Boston improved to 9-35 all-time against the Owls with the win and avoided the three-game sweep at the hands of Keene State.
- The Beacons earned a 52-38 advantage on the boards and a 19-6 edge in second-chance points.
- Despite struggling to shoot the ball all night long, UMass Boston went 20-for-36 from the free-throw line, compared to just 5-of-9 for Keene State.
- With the win, first-year head coach Kristina Baugh tied Courtney Mattingly for the program-record with her two Little East Conference Tournament wins.
- UMass Boston is the first sixth-seed to qualify for the Little East Conference Championship Game.
WHO'S NEXT
Sixth-seeded UMass Boston will look to pull off their third-straight upset on Saturday, as they take on top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University at 2 p.m. The Beacons have already defeated third-seeded Western Connecticut State University and second-seeded Keene State College.