BOSTON, Mass.— Junior forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) recorded her fifth double-double in the last eight games and sophomore guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) posted her first double-double of the season as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team made it four wins in its last five outings with a 63-59 Little East Conference victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

The pre-season favorite to win the LEC regular-season title, Eastern ( 8-5, 2-1 LEC) snapped UMass Boston's (7-5, 1-2 LEC) three-game winning streak in defeating the Beacons for the third straight time.

In a game which featured ten ties and seven lead changes. Ritrosky scored 20 points for the third time this year, finishing with a game-high 22 points and team-high 12 rebounds, while DePoi equaled her career-highs of 17 points, ten rebounds, and five three-point field goals.

Six-foot junior Olivia Murphy of  UMB  amassed her sixth double-double of the season, with 14 points and 15 rebounds, 6-foot-2 inch senior Kirsten Morrison adding 14 points and seven boards, and freshman Katie Mathieu tying her career-high of 14 points.

Mathieu was 5-of-7 from the floor --  including 4-of-6 from three-point range -- to keep the Beacons within striking distance throughout.

After the Beacons led throughout much of the first half, the Warriors took control of the game in the second stanza, with the Beacons owning just two leads for a combined 32 seconds over the final 20 minutes. The Beacons managed to stick with the Warriors throughout the game by forcing 19 turnovers (19-13) and with two six-foot players, outscored Eastern 34-20 in the paint.

Eastern scored eight straight early points to move out to an early six-point lead,

thanks to a pair of three-pointers by DePoi. The Beacons answered with ten straight points of their own, Mathieu draining a pair of three-pointers.

Eastern erased a late first-half six-point deficit to forge a halftime tie.

 Ritrosky  scored six of her 14 second-half points in the opening five minutes to give the Warriors a 38-32 edge before Mathieu's three-pointer capped UMB's 8-1 run which gave the Beacons their first lead, 40-39, nine minutes into the second half.  Eastern finally stopped a string of six straight ties – the final one at 52-all -- with a 7-1 scoring spurt. Ritrosky sandwiched a Depoi three-pointer with a pair of jumpers  to give the Warriors a 59-53 lead with 2:30 to go.

With Eastern's lead cut to two moments later,  senior forward Shannon McCourt (New Fairfield)  knocked down a key jumper and senior guard Kristina Forsman (Newington) sank two free throws to ice the game with 11 seconds to play.

Eastern  hosts unbeaten conference leader UMass Dartmouth Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The Corsairs upset 20-time LEC playoff champion University of Southern Maine on the Huskies' floor Saturday, 77-68.

UMass Boston Sports Information contributed to this game account