Women's Bracket

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. –  The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team took care of business and got a little help from Keene State College to gain a share of the Little East Conference regular-season title and gain the No. 1 LEC tournament seed Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

The pre-season conference favorite, Eastern (17-8, 10-4 LEC) never trailed after the opening two minutes and scored the first six points of the second half to build an 18-point lead on the way to a 56-41 victory over 20-time LEC champion University of Southern Maine (12-13, 8-6 LEC) in the regular-season finale. Entering play trailing conference leader University of Massachusetts Dartmouth by a game, Eastern finished in a two-way tie for first place after Keene State handed UMass Dartmouth only its third home loss in 13 games this year, 70-55, Saturday. The Corsairs had taken over the LEC lead after gaining a regular-season split with a 56-48 triumph over visiting Eastern last Saturday.

The Warriors, who have won at least ten conference games in five of the last eight seasons, finish with at least a share of the conference regular-season title for the sixth time but for the first time since winning the outright crown with a 13-1 record in 2008-09.

As the No. 1 seed, Eastern hosts No. 8 Plymouth State University, which completed a winless conference season (0-14) with a 66-53 home loss to defending tournament champion Rhode Island College. If successful, Tuesday, Eastern will host the LEC semifinals and final Friday and Saturday. Eastern has won one LEC tournament title at home, that coming in 1992 under former head coach Bob Miller.

Fifth-seeded Southern Maine visits No. 4 Keene State College Tuesday in a first-round contest. The teams split during the regular season, the Huskies defeating the Owls on Keene's home court, 71-66 Dec. 13.

In sweeping Southern Maine in the regular-season series for the first time in 24 years and holding USM to its lowest point total of the year, Eastern  capitalized on 19 USM turnovers to score 17 points. The Warriors missed 18 of 21 three-pointers and shot just 32.8 percent from the floor in the game, but forced the Huskies into 28.3 percent field goal shooting (1-for-17 from "three") and outrebounded the visitors by eight.

The Warriors took control midway through the first half by scoring nine straight points that turned a two-point lead into an 11-point advantage, 26-15, with 5:33 left before the break. In that stretch, sophomore guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) drilled a three-pointer, senior forward Shannon McCourt (New Fairfield)  sank all three of her first-half jumpers and junior forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) completed the burst with an inside bucket off a pass from senior guard Taylor McBride (Willimantic). Southern Maine commited three unforced turnovers and missed both of its shots on five possessions in that stretch.

Leading by 12 at halftime, the Warriors jumped out with the first six points of the second half to push the lead to 18. McCourt hit a jumper for the first hoop after USM missed a pair of free throws (two of only three misses for it in 17 attempts in the game). She then blocked a shot and scored inside on a pass from Ritrosky, who followed with two free throws off a steal by McCourt.

McCourt led all players with 12 points – the first time she has led the team in scoring in six weeks and moving her to within 12 of 1,000 points in her career. Ritrosky added 11 points and six rebounds, McBride chipped in a season-high ten points (sinking her first four shots from the floor) and sophomore center Lindsay Langenauer (Cromwell) scored eight points and tied her career-high with 11 rebounds in 19 miutes off the bench.

Playing without injured top scorer and rebounder Megan Pelletier (Winslow, ME), USM was without a double-figure scorer.  Freshman forward Miranda Nicely (Farmington, ME) came off the bench to score a team-high eight points and pull down a team-high eight rebounds.