WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – After closing out the month of November with a 75-49 non-conference loss to Salve Regina University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team looks to begin its "second season" on a better note when it hosts the University of Southern Maine in its Little East Conference opener Wednesday at 5 p.m.
In losing for the first time in the ten-game series with Salve (4-3), Eastern (1-7) trailed by only three points at halftime, but was outscored 42-19 in the second half. The Seahawks scored the first eight points of the third quarter – getting a pair of inside buckets from 6-feet-1 inch junior Sofia Neary and a pair of jumpers from graduate guard Amanda Folan -- to move out to an 11-point, 41-30 lead.
After senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) sank a short jumper off rebound from sophomore guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) to give Eastern a 30-28 lead, the Warriors went the final two minutes of the second quarter and first five-plus minutes of the third in falling back by 11 four minutes midway through the third quarter.
The win gives Salve its first two-game winning streak of the year. Eastern was playing only its second home game of the season.
Playing its first game of the year without second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder Ashley Rourke, Salve got a game-high 25 points from Folan, 14 from Sofia Neary and 13 from season scoring leader Briana Neary.
Salato had 18 points and eight rebounds for Eastern, with sophomore transfer forward Marissa Nudd (Colchester) adding 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) and Knowles had seven and six rebounds, respectively. Salato and Nudd were a two-person show for Eastern in the first half, evenly splitting 24 of the team's 30 points (11-of-20 FG) with seven rebounds. Folan had 13 first-half points with sisters Sofia and Briana Neary combining for 17, the trio scoring all but three of Salve's first-half points.
Southern Maine (4-2, 0-0 LEC) dropped an 80-58 decision to nationally-ranked Bates College Tuesday night and visits Saint Joseph's College (ME) Sunday in a non-conference game before visiting Eastern. Southern Maine leads the all-time series with Eastern, 68-32, but the Warriors have captured nine of the last ten, including the last four at Geissler Gym.
Eastern was the fourth seed in last year's LEC tournament and Southern Maine the third seed. Both teams won first-round games and lost in the tournament semifinals to top-seeded Rhode Island College and second-seeded Massachusetts Dartmouth, respectively. Eastern was picked for fourth in this year's pre-season poll, USM third.
Eastern and Southern Maine split last year's regular-season series, both teams winning by a pair on their home court. In last year's 42-40 win at Geissler Gym against the Huskies, USM did not score from the floor in the fourth quarter – missing all 11 of its field goals to go along with one free throw– as the Warriors erased a 39-32 deficit over the final ten minutes. Salato had 14 points and 15 rebounds and sophomore guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) adding 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Beginning with USM, Eastern plays 16 of its final 17 regular-season games against conference opponents.
A returning first-team All-LEC player, Salato reached 500 career rebounds last week and is within 93 of 1,000 points. She leads the LEC in scoring (19.5) and is fourth in rebounding (9.4). She is shooting 50 percent from the floor and 81 percent from the stripe. Two newcomers –Nudd and first-year point guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford) -- have also been in the starting lineup in every game, as have Clark and May. Nudd averages 14.1 points and 3.6 reobunds and is also shooting 50 percent from the floor. At 5-foot-5, Cassesse is second only to Salato in rebounding (5.9) and also averages 8.5 points and 3.0 assists and is shooting 84 percent from the stripe. Mayo averages 7.8 points and 4.1 rebounds and is the team leader with 13 total steals. Clark averages 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds and is second to Cassesse with an average of 2.5 assists per game.
Southern Maine is the winningest program in LEC women's basketball history but the Warriors have won four titles since the Huskies won their last of 20 championships in 2013. Heading into Sunday's game, USM features the conference's No. 1 defense (51.0 ppg.) and is first in scoring margin (+13.8), three-pointers (60) and three-point percentage (34.7) while Eastern is last by allowing an average of 70.4 points per game and three-point field goal percentage (18.2) and second-to last in three-pointers made (16). However, the teams rank 4-5 in offense, USM at 64.8 points per game and Eastern had 60.8. The Warriors' free throw percentage of 73.7 leads all LEC teams.
Graduate guard Liz Cote of USM tops the LEC in three-point percentage (45.7) and three-pointers made (21), with freshmen Morgan Cunningham fourth in the LEC in three-point percentage (37.5) and classmate Lucy Wiles seventh (34.6).