Providence, R.I.--The Rhode Island College women's basketball squad dropped a 61-49 decision against UMass Boston in a Little East Conference contest played at The Murray Center on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman forward Victoria Demers (Sutton, MA) tallied a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead RIC (5-15, 2-8 LEC). Freshman guard Jordyn Gauvin (Fall River, MA) notched a game-high 17 points and pitched in with six boards in the setback.

Junior guard Katie Mathieu (Coventry, CT) paced UMass Boston (9-12, 5-5 LEC) with 13 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Ariana Rivera (Burlington, MA) added 13 points and three rebounds, while junior forward Raven Kelsey (Boston, MA) narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 12 boards.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter with the score deadlocked, 8-8, at the first intermission.

UMass Boston opened the second half on a 13-5 run, capped by a free throw from sophomore center Michaela Ilebode (Malden, MA) to take a 21-13 lead with 4:22 left in the first half. RIC then used a 7-2 run of its own and cut the deficit down to three, 23-20, on a three-pointer by Demers with 2:06 left on the clock. That would be as close as the Anchorwomen would get as UMass Boston took a 29-21 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

The visiting Beacons pushed the lead to as many as 13 points twice in the third quarter before taking a 44-38 advantage after three quarters of play.

RIC trailed by just seven points early in the fourth quarter before UMB used an 11-4 run to take its largest lead of the game, 56-42, on a pair of free throws from Mathieu with just under four minutes left in the contest. The Beacons then cruised to the 61-49 victory.

RIC shot 36.7 percent (18-of-49) from the field, 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from behind the three-point stripe and 60.0 percent (9-of-15) from the free throw line. UMass Boston shot 32.8 percent (21-of-64) from the field, 24.0 percent (6-of-25) from beyond the three-point line and 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the free throw line. UMass Boston forced RIC into 30 turnovers for the contest.

In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will continue Little East Conference play at home against UMass Dartmouth on Wednesday, Feb. 8 (5:30 p.m.).