NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Freshman forward Megan Ronaghan scored 17 of her game-high 27 points in the second half as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women's basketball team knocked Eastern Connecticut State University from the unbeaten ranks in the Little East Conference with a 74-65 victory  Tuesday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.

At right: Jill Ritrosky

In losing to UMass Dartmouth (8-5, 2-2 Little East) in consecutive games for the first time in 20 years, Eastern (10-4, 3-1 Little East) had a six-game winning streak snapped. The Corsairs had lost their last two conference games last week by an average of 22 points.

The six-foot Ronaghan and junior guard  Kelsey Garrity each scored four points to spark an 8-0 UMass run midway through the second half which ballooned a five-point advantage to 13, 63-50, with 6:38 left. The Warriors never got closer than nine the rest of the way. Ronaghan, named LEC Rookie-of-the-Week four times this year, averages 14.6 points per game.

Eastern sophomore forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA), a two-time LEC Player-of-the-Week,  recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 22 points and ten rebounds. Sophomore post player Erin Brooks (Billerica, MA) dqualled her career high with 16 points and freshman guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) added 14 points. Ritrosky and Brooks combined to shoot 17-of-28 from the floor. Junior guard Taylor McBride (Willimantic) had seven assists and a season-high seven rebounds.

After connecting on a season-high 11 three-pointers last week against Saint Joseph (CT), Eastern missed all six of its tries form behind the arc against UMass.

Eastern  hosts the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 1 p.m.