WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – What a difference a month made.
After the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team posted its 11th straight victory against Keene State College just under a month ago with a three-point verdict in a game that was not decided until the final minutes, the return matchup, conversely, was decided in the first few minutes as the Owls led from start to finish in a 68-37 victory Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
With a chance to move into a tie for third place with idle University of Southern Maine with a victory, Eastern (9-13, 7-6 LEC) fell flat in sustaining its largest margin of loss in the 60-game series. A winner of five of its last six, Keene (11-10, 7-6 LEC) moves into a two-way tie for fourth place with Eastern with three LEC regular-season games remaining.
In the first round of the LEC tournament Feb. 20, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds host the No. 6 and No. 5 seeds, respectively, in first-round games.
Ranked second in the LEC in three-point average and first in field goal percentage defense, Keene outscored Eastern by 30 points from three-point range in the 31-point victory -- sinking ten of 21 from beyond the arc and holding the Warriors scoreless on nine three-point attempts.
In the first half, the Owls shot nearly 60 percent from the floor while Eastern was held just under 25 percent as the visitors rolled up a 16-point halftime lead that later swelled to 24 with ten minutes left.
In the game, two Eastern starters missed 20 of 22 attempts from the floor and managed only six total points, while Keene sophomore guard Valerie Luizzi had 19 points on 7-of-11 field goals (3-of-6 from distance) and added eight rebounds. Freshman guard Brynn Rautiola, the LEC scoring leader with a 19.9 average, scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half when the game was well in hand, but sophomore forwards Avery Stewart (9 points) and Lilly Krysinski (9) and junior forward Samantha Lee (8) picked up the slack in the game by combining for 26 points on 50 percent shooting and 17 rebounds.
Stewart set the tempo for Keene by swishing a three-pointer on her team's second possession of the game, and Luizzi and Lee combined for 19 of their team's 35 first-half points. Keene led by five early in the first quarter and by five in the final minute of the quarter, but Rautiola finally broke through for her first points and after consecutive Eastern misses, Luizzi grabbed a rebound and scored at the other end to give her team a nine-point lead after ten minutes. A quick 10-2 run opening the second quarter improved the lead to 17, and with six players chipping in points and five grabbing at least one rebound, Keene eased to its 16-point halftime cushion.
Coming off a 35-point, 23-rebound effort in the earlier victory over Keene, Eastern junior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) scored over half (19) of Eastern's points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots with two steals in 35 minutes.
Eastern visits VTSU Castleton Saturday at 1 p.m. in an LEC game. The Spartans earned an important victory at Plymouth State University, 74-61, Wednesday to move to within a game of Plymouth for the sixth and final playoff spot. Castleton routed Eastern, 65-39 Jan. 11 at Castleton, VT.