WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – First-year point guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) continues to make big plays for the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team and in large part because of that, the Warriors find themselves surging in the final weeks of the Little East Conference regular season.
Wednesday, Clark scored nine of her career-high 22 points in a decisive third quarter that allowed Eastern (9-12, 7-5 LEC) to expand a five-point halftime lead to 12 heading into the five ten minutes and the Warriors went two games over .500 in the conference for the first time this year with a 53-43 victory over Western Connecticut State University at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
A winner of six of its last ten following a four-game losing streak, Eastern defeated WestConn (6-15, 2-10 LEC) for the 11th straight time, in the process maintaining a share of third place in the conference with the University of Southern Maine (9-12, 7-5 LEC), which stopped a three-game conference losing streak with a 58-54 home win over the University of Massachusetts Boston Wednesday.
With four LEC regular-season games remaining, Eastern, unofficially, needs one victory and VTSU Castleton needs one loss for the Warriors to clinch one of the six LEC post-season tournament slots. With Rhode Island College and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth virtually assured of the top two tournament seeds and first-round tournament byes, Eastern remains in contention for a first-round tournament home game as either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed.
Clark, whose buzzer-beater gave the Warriors an important 42-40 win over Southern Maine Saturday at Geissler Gym (and helped make her LEC Rookie-of-the-Week), led both teams Wednesday with 22 points Wednesday on 10-of-14 field goals (2-of-4 from distance) and also grabbed nine rebounds for the third time this year, handed out four assists, blocked two shots and had one steal with only two turnovers in 40 minutes.
With team scoring and rebounding leader Taylor Salato (East Haven) limited to four minutes in the third quarter due to foul trouble, Clark picked up the slack by sinking four of five field goals as the Warriors outscored the Wolves, 15-8, in the third. Each time WestConn cut its deficit to single digits, Clark responded with key baskets. Her jumper two minutes into the third quarter gave Eastern a nine-point, 31-22 lead and additional baskets midway through the quarter and with two minutes left in the quarter gave the Warriors 11-point leads.
After the Warriors took a 12-point, 42-30 lead into the fourth quarter, Clark applied the dagger with a three-pointer that all but sealed the victory, giving Eastern a 15-point, 45-30 lead with nine minutes left. Twice in the final five minutes, the Wolves pulled to within six, but Clark fed Salato for a bucket and first-year guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) swished a jump following a defensive rebound by Clark that allowed the Warriors to re-gain their eight-point lead each time.
Eastern got all of its scoring from its starters while WestConn got nine points from its bench in the losing effort.
Salato, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the first win this year against WestConn, managed only 3-of-16 from the floor but matched Clark with nine rebounds and was 4-of-4 from the foul line in her team's 8-of-8 effort from the stripe. Senior Cara McGettigan (Southbury) had a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with ten points for her first career double-double. Knowles chipped in seven points, six rebounds and four assists.
Nicole Vivian led WestConn with 13 points and added seven rebounds, while six-foot Alyssa Virtue matched McGettgan with 12 rebounds.
Eastern hosts Keene State College Wednesday at 5 p.m.