KEENE, N.H. - Jordyn Burke and Lilly Shlimon combined to score 34 points as the Keene State College women's basketball team trailed for just nine seconds and led by as many as 19 in a 66-49 win over UMass-Boston in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  2-7, 1-1 LEC
• UMass-Boston:  6-1, 1-1 LEC

How It Happened

Two free throws from the Beacons' Maia Daugherty gave her team a 4-3 lead nearly five minutes into the opening quarter, but KSC answered with a 13-1 burst and was in control all day while giving UMB their first loss of the season.  Burke finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-9 from the floor while adding five rebounds, two steals and a block.  Shlimon also shined, making 4-of-6 triples on her way to scoring 16 points.  She added four rebounds and two assists.  Hailey Derosia chipped in eight points, a season-best seven assists, two steals and one block.  Joie Grassi finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for UMass-Boston, but the Beacons were held to just 49 points and 27.5% shooting from the floor after averaging 78.3 over their previous three contests.

Keene State roared to life over the final 5:26 of the opening quarter, as they scored 16 points in that span and turned a 4-3 deficit into a 19-9 lead after one.  A layup from Leah Pelkey put KSC ahead at the beginning of that stretch, and later a pair of threes by Shlimon made it 16-5 at the 2:06 mark.  The Beacons scored the next four, but Tamra Gonyea buried a triple of her own in the final seconds of the first to make it a double-digit game again, which it remained for most of the second stanza until a late UMB surge.  Burke's layup kept the Owls up 23-11 at the 8:40 mark, and a few minutes later, a four-point play by Shlimon after she was fouled making a three kept it a 12-point game (29-17) with 5:45 to go in the half.  The Beacons got back in it, halving their deficit heading into the break, as they finished on a 12-6 run to make it 35-29 through 20 minutes.  KSC made 7-of-14 shots in the second and UMB 6-of-13.

The Owls dented any hopes of a UMass-Boston comeback when they scored the first seven points of the second half.  Two free throws from Burke and a layup from Hien Thach in the opening minute made it 39-29, and Derosia then followed up a block by making a three for a 13-point edge at the 8:46 mark of the third.  The Beacons did not score for nearly four minutes, and never got closer than 10 following KSC's opening flurry.  Once they did make it a 10-point game, Gonyea answered with a long-range make, and a short time later Shlimon did the same to make it 49-34 with five minutes on the clock.  The Owls shot 50% overall in the third and made 3-of-5 from deep.  Burke's scored again to make it a 55-36 before UMB's Jamie Staples responded with a three to make it a 16-point game after three.

The teams combined for just one basket each in the opening five minutes of the fourth as KSC maintained the same edge, and then Pelkey buried a triple with 4:56 left to make it 60-41, all but ending any hopes of a rally by the visitors.  Jalani Jackson, who had scored in double-figures in every game before being limited to four today, scored at the 2:30 mark to make it 60-47, but KSC put the exclamation mark on their final home game of the calendar year by scoring the next six to polish off their first league win.

Inside the Numbers

• The Owls shot 42% (22-of-52) from the floor and equaled a season-high with eight threes as a team.  The 8-for-19 showing from deep was the second best of the season so far, only behind making 8-of-12 at Worcester State University on November 23.
• Burke has scored in double-figures three times this season and has made 15 of 23 shots over the past four games. 
• Shlimon's four threes were one shy of tying her single-game high of five set on November 27, 2017 against RPI.
• KSC leads the all-time series 31-12, but had not defeated the Beacons in Keene since January 30, 2016, a 75-59 victory.

Up Next

• Keene State will break for the holidays and then take on top-ranked Amherst College in the D3Hoops Classic on Sunday, December 29.  Tip-off in Las Vegas, Nevada is scheduled for 3:00 pm ET.
• UMass-Boston hosts Salem State University on Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 pm.