WILLIMANTIC, Conn. –In a 12-point loss to the University of Massachusetts Boston last year, junior guard Taylor McBride (Willimantic) played 26 minutes off the bench but managed only two points and two assists. Saturday, the 5-foot-2 inch point guard posted career-highs of 16 points and ten assists in a starting role to lead the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team to a 67-47 Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

At right: Taylor McBride directs the offense in the second half Saturday against UMass Boston.

The win is the sixth straight for conference-leading Eastern (10-3, 3-0 Little East) , which has already equaled last year's win total despite playing recently without two starters.  UMass (8-4, 1-2 Little East) had defeated the Warriors three times in the previous four meetings between the squads.

At left: Brianna Leonard had her second straight game of at least ten rebounds, totallilng a game-high 12 against the Beacons.

The lead changed hands seven times in the first half and each team led by as many as six. After trailing by two at the break, Eastern outscored the visitors 22-5 in the first eight minutes of the second half to take command by 15, 47-32. Five different players contributed to a 16-2 run – McBride sinking two free throws and soon after, completing a conventional three-point play with a driving layup on a pass from sophomore forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) as part of a 9-0 run. The Warriors shot 72.7 percent from the floor in the second half, penetrating for inside baskets throughout the half.

McBride, who turned the ball over only twice in 35 minutes, was 5-of-7 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the stripe (she was 8-of-13 from the line entering the game). She spent the game penetrating either for driving layups or delivering the ball to open teammates underneath in both the transition and in a set offense. She becomes the seventh different player to lead the team in scoring in 13 games this year.

For Eastern, sophomore post Erin Brooks (Billerica, MA) added 12 points (4-of-5 from the floor), freshman guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) 11, six-foot freshman post Lexis Foster (Groton) her first game of double figures with ten points and a season-tying eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Brianna Leoanrd (Amherst, MA) had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Senior guard Andrea Suffredini  led UMass with a game-high 20 points. Coming off the bench for the first time this year, team scoring and rebounding  leader Olivia Murphy – a six-foot sophomore – was the team's other double-figure scorer, with ten points. She managed three rebounds in 23 minutes.  Making her second start of the year, freshman forward Mallory Nelson was saddled with two fouls in the first three minutes and picked up her fourth three minutes into the second half. She had one rebound and no points in the game.

Trailing by three points with six minutes left in the first half, the Beacons put together their most consistent run, ripping off nine straight points over four minutes to assume their largest lead of the game, 27-21. Murphy scored the final four points of that stretch with an inside basket on a pass from junior guard Lauren Perra and two free throws, with Perra contributing her only points of the game with a three-pointer on an assist from Murphy.

UMass shot just 25.0 percent from the floor in the second half and 30.5 percent in the game, missing 13 of 17 three-point field goals and ending up on the short end of a 39-25 rebounding margin.

Eastern visits Massachusetts Dartmouth Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.