DANBURY, Conn. – Senior All-America forward Anna Barry (Andover) had 23 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high nine blocked shots as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team broke open a tight game with a 20-9 scoring advantage in the third quarter and guaranteed itself no worse than a share of the Little East Conference regular-season title with a 62-52 victory over Western Connecticut State University Wednesday evening at Feldman Arena.
Eastern (20-4, 15-1 LEC) closes out the regular season on a 12-game overall and conference winning streak and earns a bye into the LEC tournament semifinals Feb. 23, when it will host the winner of a Feb. 21 first-round game. Last year, Eastern won its final 11 regular-season games, and eliminated Castleton University in the first round of the LEC tournament for win No. 12 in a row before being eliminated by UMass Dartmouth at home in the semifinals.
WestConn (12-11, 5-10 LEC) has lost six straight after being swept by Eastern in the home-and-home series for the fourth straight season.
Two-time defending champion Rhode Island College (21-3, 14-1 LEC) defeated visiting UMass Dartmouth, 76-56, Wednesday night to move to within a Saturday victory at Plymouth State University (0-15 in the LEC) of sharing the regular-season title with Eastern. If Eastern and RIC finish in a two-way tie for first, a coin flip (after eight unproductive tie-breakers) will determine the No. 1 tournament seed.
Barry was 8-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line en route to game-high scoring honors, with senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) also sinking seven of eight free throws and also finishing in double figures, with 11. Senior guard Danielle O'Brien (Rockland, MA) added six points, four assists and four steals with only one turnover in 30 minutes. Barry ranks first all-time with 251 blocked shots and holds the No. 2 and No. 3 season records in that department.
Eastern led by only two, 31-29, at halftime but outscored the Wolves, 20-9 in the third quarter to pull away. WestConn managed just 2-of-13 from the floor with five turnovers in the third quarter. The Warriors broke a 31-all tie by scoring eight straight points early in the quarter, with Barry and Keckler splitting those points. Eastern was helped when the hosts missed all four of their shots and turned the ball over once on five possessions in that stretch.
Heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at the University of Southern Maine, WestConn is locked in a three-way tie with UMass Boston and Southern Maine for fifth place. In the LEC first round Tuesday, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds host the No. 6 and No. 5 seeds, respectively.
Under 29th-year head coach Denise Bierly, Eastern has won or shared eight LEC regular-season championships. Prior to this year, the Warriors had captured four outright titles and shared three others.
The 15 LEC regular-season wins are the most in program history for Eastern, which was coming off back-to-back 14-2 campaigns. Since going 8-6 in the conference in 2017/18, Eastern is 55-9 in the LEC regular season over the last four years.
Eastern's first three losses this year came against teams currently ranked nationally, with the other coming at Rhode Island College, 51-37, five weeks ago. Heading into Thursday's LEC semifinals, Eastern is 9-1 at home, having claimed nine straight since dropping its home-opener to No. 17 nationally-ranked Babson College, 77-69. Eastern followed up that loss with a 59-54 setback at No. 19-ranked Trinity College and in early December lost a 66-55 road decision to No. 5 nationally-ranked Smith College.
Eastern has not lost since dropping the decision at Rhode Island College. The Warriors bounced back a week ago to stop RIC's 18-game winning streak and knock the Anchorwomen from the unbeaten ranks in the conference.