PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After being tripped up by Eastern Connecticut State University in its quest for regular-season perfection in the Little East Conference each of the previous two seasons, the Rhode Island College women's basketball team finally got the monkey off its back Wednesday evening at The Murray Center with a 84-30 victory over the Warriors that moved the Anchorwomen to within one win of becoming the first team to go undefeated in a 16-game LEC regular season schedule.

Having already clinched the LEC regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed, Rhode Island (24-0, 15-0 LEC) led by16 points at halftime and ran away with it by limiting the Warriors to eight second-half points en route to its first LEC regular-season sweep of Eastern (10-14, 8-7 LEC) since 2019/20 (that year, Eastern gained the ultimate measure of retribution for those two regular-season losses with a 49-44 win over the Anchorwomen in the LEC tournament championship game).

In each of the past two years, Eastern had spoiled RIC's bid for an undefeated season by handing the Anchorwomen their only conference loss by winning the second time around after RIC had won the first meeting by 26 and 14 points, respectively. Since the advent of the 16-game season in 2018/19, no team has gone undefeated (excluding RIC's 7-0 record during the Covid-shortened 2020/21 season).

After Wednesday, RIC is 52-3 in its last 55 LEC regular-season games, the three setbacks coming against the Warriors.

The Warriors entered the game sharing third place in the standings, a game ahead of fifth-place Keene State College. With Keene losing to homestanding University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 78-63 Wednesday night, Eastern heads into its regular-season finale against visiting Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m. holding down fourth place – still a game ahead of fifth-place Keene in the chase for a first-round tournament home game awarded the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. Keene hosts Rhode Island College Saturday as the Anchorwomen shoot for a perfect conference and overall regular season.

An Eastern win Saturday or a Keene State loss, unofficially, gives the Warriors no worse than the fourth seed and a first-round tournament home game Tuesday.

Wednesday, Rhode Island outscored Eastern by 33 points from three-point range by sinking 12 of 24 from distance and outscored the Warriors by 18 points off turnovers.

Taylor Salato (East Haven) and Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) led Eastern with 12 and ten points, respectively, with Salato pulling down 12 rebounds and Clark five. Angelina Nardolillo, Madison Medbury and Izabelle Booth all had 14 points in RIC's balanced attack, with the 6-foot-1 inch Nardolillo grabbing nine rebounds and Medbury seven.

Eastern owns a 23-game winning streak against Plymouth, the most recent triumph by a score of 59-52 at Plymouth on January 13.