GORHAM, Maine --  Megan Pelletier  scored all five of her first-half points in a four-minute span to spark a 13-2 scoring run by the University of Southern Maine, which went on to a 56-38 Little East Conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

At right: Julia DePoi

The win allows Southern Maine (18-7, 10-4 Little East) to break a two-way tie for second place with Eastern (17-8, 9-5 Little East) and finish as the No. 2 seed in next week's LEC tournament. The Warriors, who had beaten the Huskies by nine points at home a month ago, will be the tournament's No. 3 seed and will host No. 6 Keene State College (13-12, 5-9 Little East) in a first-round game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Rhode Island College nailed down the top seed and regular-season title for the second time in three years with a 70-33 win over visiting Plymouth State University. If the Anchorwomen win their first-round game Tuesday over Plymouth State, they will host the semifinals and final Friday and Saturday.

Although the Warriors entered the day with a mathematical chance of sharing the LEC regular-season title with a win over Southern Maine (Rhode Island needing to sustain a huge upset loss against Plymouth), they had done the dirty work of earning a first-round tournament  home game  this past Tuesday by avenging an earlier 25-point loss to Western Connecticut with a 12-point victory over the Colonials.

Saturday, Pelletier hit a jumper, layup and free throw to ignite USM's decisive 13-2 run as the Huskies defeated the Warriors on their home court for the  sixth straight time.

Eastern, which started two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior, commited 12 first-round turnovers and shot only 33.3 percent from the floor and trailed by 11, 28-17, at the half.  Leading by nine early in the second half, Southern Maine outscored Eastern 11-4 --  Mariah Callendar scoring seven of the points with a three-point field goal, a driving basket from the right side off a set play, and reverse baseline layup to give the Huskies a 39-21 advantage five minutes into the second half.

Eastern freshman guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) was limited to six points after striking for a game-high 23 in the earlier win over Southern Maine. However, she shared team scoring honors with freshman guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) and junior forward Shannon McCourt (New Fairfield). Sophomore forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) led the Warriors with seven rebounds, freshman post Lexis Foster (Groton) adding five points and six rebounds off the bench.

The Warriors turned the ball over 22 times, which led directly to 15 USM points. During the regular season, Eastern averaged 62.6 points per game but was limited to an average of 38.3 in its last three LEC setbacks.

Callendar led Southern Maine with 12 points, Rebecca Knight adding 11 points and nine rebounds. Hannah Fenwick had eight points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals for the hosts.