WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team scored the first 13 points – limiting Plymouth State University to 17 percent shooting in the first half – on the way to its 16th consecutive victory over the Panthers, 76-41, Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Junior guard Sabrina LeMere (North Branford) sank both of three-pointers in the first two minutes to help stake Eastern (12-7, 7-3 LEC) to its 13-0 lead and the Warriors were never headed in winning their sixth home game in nine decisions this year. Eastern remains two games behind Little East leader UMass Dartmouth and a half-game back behind UMass Boston and the University of Southern Maine.
The loss is the fourth in the last six games for Plymouth (8-11, 2-9 LEC), which dropped to 0-7 against conference opponents on the road.
While Plymouth was shooting 16.7 percent from the floor, Eastern connected on 57.6 percent of its first-half shots in rolling up a 30-point, 46-16 lead.
All 14 Eastern players saw at least eight minutes of work, and although the offensive rebounding totals were nearly identical, Eastern outscored the Panthers by 14 points on second-half opportunities.
Junior forward Mya Villard (Cromwell) paced four Eastern double-digit scorers, with 15, with freshman forward Anna Barry (Andover) adding 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Freshman guard Danielle O'Brien (Rockland, MA) added 12 points off the bench, exceeding her entire season total with four three-point field goals on six tries. LeMere recorded all ten of her points in the first half and also handed out five assists. Freshman guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) handed out seven assists. Barry sank five of seven field goals to raise her season percentage to 60.0 and her three blocks gives her a team-leading 27 in an average of 12.7 minutes per game.
Freshman guard Maysen Tyler (Bridge City, TX) came off the bench for a team-high nine points for the Panthers, with sophomore forward Liz McLaughlin (Melvin Village, NH) and junior forward Alex Ricard (Manchester, NH) both contributing six points and six rebounds.
Eastern visits Massachusetts Boston in a conference game Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.