WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Limited to five first-half minutes because of foul trouble, senior forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) had all 16 of her points and all seven rebounds in 18 second-half minutes as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team downed Rhode Island College, 63-54, in a Little East Conference game Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

At right: Julia DePoi (Photo by Mike Freilich)

The LEC pre-season favorite, Eastern (5-3, 1-1 LEC), outscored Rhode Island (3-6, 1-1 LEC) by ten, 22-12,  in a decisive third quarter to take a 13-point, 50-37 lead into the final ten minutes on the way to breaking a two-game losing streak. Ritrosky had eight points and four rebounds to keep the Warriors in front in the final quarter. RIC had won the three previous games and seven of the last nine in this series.

Eastern never trailed in the first quarter and led for all but 15 seconds, but the Anchorwomen – with Ritrosky on the bench – scrapped back to take its only lead, 18-17 on an inside bucket from senior forward Devin Hill (Danielson) with 7:24 left in the first half. The Warriors broke the final tie and took the lead for good with 30 seconds left in the first half on the second of junior guard Julia DePoi's (Brookfield) four three-point field goals which came on the only rebound of the game by  freshman center Alyssa Hansen (Andover).

Ritrosky was saddled with two offensive fouls in the opening two minutes, but after returning to start the second half, commited only one additional foul, that coming with 5:05 left in the game.

 A 5-foot-9 inch guard, DePoi contributed her first double-double of the year with 14 points, a game and career-high 14 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists. Junior guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) added 13 points and senior forward Erin Brooks (Billerica, MA) ten points and eight rebounds and senior point guard Victoria Pfohl (Trumbull) handed out a career-high 11 assists, seven coming in the second half.

Shooting only 23.3 percent from three-point range this year, the Warriors sank a season-high nine on 19 tries (47.4 percent).

The six-foot Hill – the third-leading scorer in the LEC with an average just under 19 points per game – shared game-high scoring honors with 16 points with sophomore teammate Jessa Rubera (Newton, MA) and Ritrosky. Hill also led her team with nine rebounds and topped all players with five steals.

Eastern competes in the Arizona Shootout in Phoenix Dec. 29-30.