BOSTON --  Sophomore forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) had her tenth double-double of the season with a team-high 12 points and game-high 17 rebounds and the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team limited the University of Massachusetts Boston to 22.8 percent shooting from the floor  and eased to a 64-37 Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

At right: Jill Ritrosky

Eastern's (15-6, 7-3 Little East) win, coupled with the University of Southern Maine's 64-59 overtime loss at Massachusetts Dartmouth, moves the Warriors into sole possession of second place in the conference. The Warriors remain two games behind Rhode Island College with four regular-season games remaining. The Anchorwomen downed visiting Keene State College, 70-57, Saturday.

In sweeping UMass (12-9, 3-7 Little East) in the home-and-home series, Eastern  sank its first six shots from the floor – getting hoops from five different players  -- and moved out to an 11-point, 13-2 advantage with less than five minutes gone. A pair of free throws off the bench by sophomore guard Brianna Leonard (Amherst, MA) helped the Warriors balloon the early lead to 16, 21-5, halfway through the first half and the hosts never recovered.

Ritrosky had ten points and eight rebounds in the first half and Eastern shot 59.1 percent from the floor, the Warriors finishing at 52.2 for the game. Ritrosky was 5-for-7 from the field in the contest and junior point guard Taylor McBride (Willimantic) 4-for-4 on field goals with four assists.

Ranked third in the conference in rebounding, Ritrosky nearly out-rebounded UMass Boston by herself. With conference rebounding leader Olivia Murphy, a six-foot sophomore forward, held to just two boards, UMass managed only 21 and was outrebounded by 24 by Eastern.

A loser of four straight conference games, UMass got a game-high 14 points from freshman guard Mallory Nelson, but four other starters managed only ten points. Shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor on the season, Murphy missed 12 of 13 field goals and eight bench players combined to misfire on 19 of 22 field goal tries.

Eastern visits Keene State College Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.