Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team outscored Emmanuel College 10-2 over the final three minutes to wipe out a five-point deficit and gain a 55-52 victory over the No. 23 nationally-ranked Saints Tuesday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
At right: Head coaches Denise Bierly (foreground) of Eastern and Andy Yosinoff (background) of Emmanuel brought a combined total of 1,066 wins over 57 seasons into Tuesday's game.
There were seven ties and seven lead changes in the game before Eastern (2-1) took the lead for good, 52-50, when freshman guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) canned the only three-pointer of the game by either team on her seventh try from that distance with 45 seconds left. With Eastern leading by one, junior guard Kristina Forsman (Newington) canned two of four free throw attempts in the final 20 seconds as Eastern snapped a two-game losing streak at the hands of Emmanuel (2-1) in handing the Saints their first loss of the season.
After Forsman missed her second free throw in the final seconds, Emmanuel had an opportunity to tie the game. With time expiring, the Saints got the ball to sophomore guard Shaniha Rentie above the arc, but her hurried shot from straight on bounced off the rim as the horn sounded.
"The team did a good job making enough plays at the end to secure the win," said 20th-year head coach Denise Bierly afterward. "The problem for us today was taking care of the basketball (22 turnovers), but Emmanuel does that (forces turnovers) to you, and we knew that going into the game."
Eastern moved out to a nine-point lead with half of the game remaining but was outscored 19-5 over the next seven minutes as the visitors took a five-point, 50-45 lead with 2:52 left. Emmanuel was 8-for-12 from the floor in that stretch – six of the hoops coming in the paint -- and gave the ball away only once. Six different players contributed to scoring in that stretch.
After scoring 13 of their 22 first-half points off of Eastern's 13 turnovers, Emmanuel managed only three points off Eastern's eight second-half miscues.
Emmanuel was in foul trouble throughout the contest, leading to Eastern's +15 advantage in free-throw attempts. Eastern was 16-for-26 from the stripe, led by sophomore forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA), who was 5-for-6. Two Emmanuel starters fouled out in the final 79 seconds.
Nappi led all scorers with 15 points and turned the ball over only once in a game-high 35 minutes. Sophomore guard Brianna Leonard (Amherst, MA) and Ritrosky combined for 30 rebounds. Leonard led all players in the game with a career-high 16, Ritrosky falling one shy of her career-high with 14. Ritrosky added 13 points and five assists.
Senior forward Jasmine Burwell and junior forward Vanessa Bramante led Emmanuel with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Burwell played 24 minutes off the bench, sinking five of seven field goals.
The teams combined to miss 20 of 21 three-point field goals, with Emmanuel's starters with the exception of Bramante suffering through a miserable 6-for-33 shooting effort (18.2 percent).
Junior forward Shannon McCourt (New Fairfield) matched Ritrosky's 13 points (5-for-10 from the floor) and contributed seven rebounds.
With six-foot freshman Lindsay Langenauer (Cromwell) missing her second straight game with a foot injury, six-foot classmate Lexis Foster (Groton) came off the bench to play 16 minutes and grab three rebounds.
The win was the first for any of this year's Eastern's players over Emmanuel, which had defeated Eastern, 65-47, a year ago at Boston en route to 23 wins and an NCAA tournament berth.
Eastern visits Trinity College Thursday at 7 p.m.
