WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University outscored fourth-seeded Castleton University 13-2 to open the second half and went on to its 13th straight win with a 61-49 victory in the semifinals of the 2023 Little East Conference women's basketball tournament Thursday evening at Francis Geissler Gymnasium.
A winner of its last ten home games after an opening loss to nationally-ranked Babson College, Eastern (22-4) moves into the LEC championship game for the 13th time under 29th-year head coach Denise Bierly, looking for its seventh title, fifth in the last eight years.
Eastern faces two-time defending champion and second-seeded Rhode Island College (23-3) – 66-60 winner over third-seeded Massachusetts Dartmouth Thursday -- in Saturday's 1 p.m. title game at Geissler Gymnasium. The Anchorwomen will be appearing in their fourth straight final, having lost to top-seeded Eastern as the No. 2 seed, 49-44, in the only previous meeting between the programs in the final, in 2020. The championship was Eastern's second straight before RIC rebounded to win the last two titles.
Eastern and RIC split the regular-season series and shared the regular-season title, with the Warriors gaining the No. 1 seed on tie-breakers. Eastern won at home, 66-56 two weeks ago over RIC to snap its 18-game winning streak while the Anchorwomen won the first meeting, 51-37 at the Murray Center.
Against Castleton, Eastern was coming off an eight-day layoff and led by only three at halftime after the teams combined to shoot 27 percent. The Warriors opened the second half by scoring the first eight points and 13 of the first 15 over the first seven minutes, sinking six of their first 11 shots. The run was capped by senior guard Jaclyn Santella's (Hebron) fifth three-pointer of the season off a pass from senior guard Jenna Serrantino (Cromwell) that made it 34-20.
Castleton missed its first nine shot of the second half -- four of them from distance -- and managed to connect on only six of 26 three-pointers in the game. The Spartans trailed by double digits throughout the second half before twice pulling to within eight points midway through the fourth quarter and with two minutes left in the game. After missing nine of her first ten shots, senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) answered the first time for Eastern with her only three-pointer of the game. Senior guard Danielle O'Brien's (Rockland, MA) steal and Keckler's assist set up senior All-America Anna Barry's (Andover) short jumper that returned the Eastern lead to 13 (53-40).
After the Spartans got a conventional three-point play from graduate guard Kelly Vuz and turned a turnover into a layup by graduate forward Delaney Whitehead to again make it an eight-point game with just over two minutes left, Eastern senior forward Mariah Dunn (Meriden) answered with a driving layup to return the lead to ten points, and the Warriors iced the game when Keckler (the program's all-time second-leading free-throw shooting) and O'Brien combined to sink six free throws in a span of 30 seconds.
Barry recorded her 15th double-double of the season (third in as many games against Castleton) with 19 points and 13 rebounds and added three blocks. Dunn had 14 points – ten on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor in the second half – and added five rebounds. O'Brien had five points and six rebounds. Behind Barry, sophomore forward Taylor Salato (East Haven), and O'Brien, Eastern out-rebounded Castleton by ten. Salato grabbed nine rebounds off the bench in only 16 minutes.
Senior guard Elise Magro scored a team-high 22 points on 28 field goal attempts, grabbed nine rebounds, handed out for assists and had two steals before leaving the game for the only time after fouling out with 37.8 seconds left. Vuz had 12 points but was 3-of-13 from the floor as the Spartans were limited to 29 percent field goal shooting.
Eastern turned the ball over only 12 times (its lowest total in early a month), but Castleton capitalized on those miscues by scoring 23 points.
In three games this year against Castleton, Barry averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds and shot 50 percent from the floor. Dunn averaged 12 points and also shot 50 percent from the floor, and Salato averaged 10.7 points and 6.7 rebounds with a 53 percent shooting percentage. Keckler was 6-of-6 from the foul line in the three-game series and the Warriors shot 82 percent from the stripe.