WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team scored ten of the game's first 12 points and never trailed in keeping pace in the race for the Little East Conference regular-season title with a 58-47 victory over Western Connecticut State University Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Playing only its fifth home game of the year, Eastern (13-4, 7-1 LEC) moved into sole possession of second place in the conference, one game behind unbeaten leader Rhode Island College, which knocked the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth into third place with its 14th straight win, 77-61, over the Corsairs at Dartmouth, MA.
WestConn (11-4, 4-3 LEC) fell for the third time in four games after winning ten straight games. The Wolves share fourth place in the conference with Castleton University, which pulled even in the standings with WestConn on the strength of Wednesday's 59-45 victory at Keene State College.
In defeating WestConn for the 17th time in the last 18 games in the series, Eastern got ten points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots from senior All-America Anna Barry (Andover) and nine points, four assists and two steals from senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) to move out to an 11-point, 32-21 halftime lead.
A pair of free throws and inside basket from Barry pushed Eastern into its largest lead of the night, 36-23, but the Warriors were unable to completely shake the Wolves, who got an inside basket from Alyssa Virtue that capped a 14-4 run and pulled the visitors as close as three points, 40-37, in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. At that point, WestConn was held without a field goal and to only four free throws over nearly six minutes as Eastern expanded its lead to 11 midway through the final quarter.
Barry totalled her tenth double-double of the year with 17 points and 13 rebounds and also blocked five shots. Keckler moved to within 11 points of 1,000 in her four-year career with a game-high 18 points. She was 8-of-10 from the foul line. Sophomores Taylor Salato (East Haven) and Kya Mayo (Middletown) helped the Warriors to a +9 advantage on the boards with eight and six, respectively.
Eastern hosts the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday at 1 p.m. in a conference game.