WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – After missing 14 of 15 three-point field goal attempts in the first half, the Keene State College women's basketball team used four three-point field goals to spark a 16-6 scoring run over the first four minutes of the second half that propelled the No. 5-seeded Owls to a 56-45 victory over fourth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University in the opening round of the 2025 Little East Conference tournament at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Swept by Eastern by a total of 12 points in the two-game regular-season series, Keene (13-13), Keene has won six of its last eight and moves into the tournament semifinals Thursday at 7 p.m. against top-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at the Tripp Athletic Center. Six days ago, Keene upended UMass Dartmouth, 71-61, at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Eastern (11-15) led by eight points three minutes into the second quarter before Keene closed out the half on an 11-2 run that pushed it into a one-point, 22-21 lead at the break. Shooting 1-of-15 from distance in the first half, Keene turned it around in the opening minutes of the second half, getting two three-pointers from junior guard Valerie Luizzi and one each from freshman guard Ruby Dasaro and one from LEC scoring leader Brynn Rautiola, a sophomore guard who was last year's LEC Rookie-of-the-Year, that fueled an opening 18-6 scoring run that gave the Owls a 13-point, 40-27 lead midway through the third quarter.
In all, Keene outscored Eastern 29-8 over 22 minutes that allowed it to build that insurmountable 13-point lead.
Down by 14 with six minutes left, the Warriors scored six straight points on a pair of inside buckets from senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) and a jumper from sophomore guard Julia Knowles (Waterford) that cut the deficit to single digits with two-and-a-half minutes left, but Dasaro sank a pair of free throws and Luizzi nailed her fourth three-pointer of the game inside the final minute that preserved the lead for Keene.
In the second half, Dasaro and Luizzi each scored 22 points and combined for ten rebounds and seven assists, with Keene sinking six of 13 three-point field goals. In the game, Dasaro and Luizzi combined for 33 points, 19 rebounds and nine assists. Dasaro had 17 points and nine rebounds and Luizzi 16 points and ten rebounds. Junior forward Avery Stewart chipped in ten rebounds to help the Owls to a +5 rebounding advantage.
In the final game of her four-year career, Salato had her 12th double-double (sixth straight) of the season. She led all players with 19 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. In her final career game, senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) added 12 points. She led Eastern in the first half with nine points, six of them coming when she recorded two of her three three-point field goals in the game. Outside of Salato and Mayo, the team's other starters combined on 6-of-30 shooting from the floor.
The LEC tournament meeting was the tenth since 1998 between the clubs, with Keene winning for the fourth time, including two of the last three after the Warriors had taken four straight. All but of the games in the series but one have been played at higher-seeded Eastern.