PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Top-seeded and nationally-ranked Rhode Island College outscored fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University by 14 points in the first quarter and went on to a 67-40 victory in the semifinals of the Little East Conference women's basketball tournament Thursday evening at The Murray Center on the RIC campus.
Rhode Island improved to 26-0 this year, 12-0 at home and had concluded the regular season with a perfect 16-0 LEC record after going 15-1 each of the previous two seasons. The Anchorwomen will be shooting for a fourth straight LEC tournament title when they host second-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Saturday in the LEC final. The Corsairs eliminated third-seeded University of Southern Maine, 84-67, in Thursday's other semifinal at Dartmouth, MA.
Making its tenth straight appearance in the semifinal round, Eastern (11-16) had advanced to Thursday's game with a 43-38 win over fifth-seeded Keene State College in Tuesday's first round. RIC had received a first-round bye.
Thursday, Eastern was outscored by 24 points (8-to-0) from three-point range and was outscored 26-5 off turnovers. Junior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) finished with a game-high 16 points as Eastern's only double-digit scorer and also led both teams with eight rebounds and two blocks.
It marked the first time in the 102-game series that the Anchorwomen defeated Eastern three times in one season. The Warriors still hold a comfortable 72-30 advantage in the all-time series, with winning streaks of 16 in the mid-80s and 13 in the late 90s and early 2000s. Since 2011/12, the Anchormen hold a 16-13 edge in the series.
Despite losing all of its starters from a year ago – including two-time All-America and three-time LEC Player-of-the-Year Anna Barry – the Warriors still managed double-digit wins overall for the 28th time in 29 years (excluding the 2020/21 Covid season when the team cancelled the season ) under head coach Denise Bierly, and won at least half of its conference regular-season games for the 27th time under Bierly.
It was the first time since 2011/12 that Eastern did not win more LEC games than it lost. Heading into this year, Eastern was 55-9 in the LEC regular season in the previous four seasons, had finished second twice, won one outright regular-season title and shared another and had captured two LEC tournament championships.
Eastern has finished fourth or better in the LEC regular season in all but two seasons under Bierly seasons and with Tuesday's 43-38 win over Keene State College, advanced beyond the first round of the LEC tournament for the 25th time under the current head coach.
This year, Eastern never fell more than one game under .500 in the conference and was .500 or better the rest of the way after winning two straight on the road (against Western Connecticut and Keene State College) following a 1-2 conference start.
Following a 3-7 start, Eastern lost as many as two straight games overall only once, playing near .500 (8-9) over the final 17 games.
Six-footer Salato, a first-team All-LEC candidate, led the team or shared the team lead in scoring 23 times (seven straight at one point) and in rebounding 21 times (also seven straight) and finished with four games of at least 30 points and with 12 double-doubles (also falling one rebound shy of six additional double-doubles). In the regular-season win over Keene Jan. 9, Salato had career-highs of 35 points and 23 rebounds, falling one point shy of the game record).
Salato currently ranks first in the LEC in rebounding and free throws made and attempted, second in scoring, third in blocks, and fifth in FT percentage. First-year point guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) is fourth in the LEC in assists and was the team's only player with double-digit three-point field goals.
Three players started all 27 games this year: Salato, senior guard Cara McGettigan (Southbury) and Clark, with first-year guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) one of four players to see time in every game. Junior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) was also a fulltime starter, starting all 25 games in which she appeared (missing two games in mid-January). McGettigan had not started a game in her career until this year. Salato, Clark, Mayo and McGettigan all averaged more than 30 minutes per game. Despite averaging less than 15 minutes per game, senior forward Emily Jeamel (Manchester) was second only to Salato in blocked shots. Salato had 36, Jeamel and Clark 15 each.
In a rare occurrence, Clark and Knowles were fulltime starters as true freshmen. Clark led the team in assists and was second to Salato in scoring and was second (tied with McGettigan) in rebounding.
Salato reached 700 (751) career points and 450 (464) career rebounds this year and fell just three points shy of becoming only the fourth player in program history to score as many as 500 points in a season. Her scoring average of 18.4 was also the fourth-highest in a season in program history and her free throws made (135) and attempted (161) rank second and fifth, respectively, in a season.
While Eastern led the LEC in free-throw shooting (74.3), the Warriors were outscored by 351 points (483-to-132) from three-point range.