WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) had a game-high 17 rebounds for No. 1 seeded Eastern Connecticut State University, and fourth-seeded Keene State College shot only 19 percent from the floor as the Warriors advanced to the Little East Conference women's basketball final with a 51-30 win Saturday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Photo by Liam Murphy

A winner of eight of its last ten, Eastern (19-8) faces No. 3 seed University of Massachusetts Boston (19-8) in the final Sunday at 2 p.m. UMass Boston earned its first championship game berth in the 29-year history of the tournament by running away from second-seeded and regular-season co-champion University of  Massachusetts Dartmouth (19-8), 72-49.

Eastern is making its fourth appearance in the final in the last eight years, last winning in 2008, 65-60 in overtime, over top-ranked University of Southern Maine.

The teams had split the regular-season series, but Keene (17-10) had come away with a 48-35 win over the Warriors when the teams met Feb. 11 at Geissler Gym.

Eastern broke the third and final tie late in the first half, scoring nine straight points en route to an 11-2 run which was capped by senior forward Shannon McCourt's (New Fairfield) first career three-pointer that made it 20-11 with 2:39 left.

Keene's starters combined to miss 37 of 45 field goal attempts.

McCourt led all players with 15 points, senior guard Kristina Forsman (Newington) adding 11 points and nine rebounds. Three of Forsman's four field goals were from three-point range. The Warriors out-rebounded Keene, 53-42, including 22-14 on the offensive boards.

The point total was the lowest of the year for Keene, which did not have a double-digit scorer and had a five-game winning streak ended. Junior guard Kelsey Cognetta led Keene with nine points and sophomore forward Stephanie D'Annolfo had seven rebounds and three steals.

Eastern has beaten UMB the last four times the teams have met and in 12 of the last 15 meetings. The club last met in 2008 when the Warriors posted a 75-68 first-round victory at Geissler Gymnasium. Eastern later downed Western Connecticut State University in the semifinals, 58-46 before upsetting USM on the Huskies' home floor in the final.

All three of Eastern's LEC titles have been won on the road.

UMass Boston 72, UMass Dartmouth 49

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  Third-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston advanced to the championship game of the Little East Conference women's basketball tournament for the first time in the 29-year history of the tournament by outscoring second-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth  by 32 points over 14 minutes after falling behind by ten in the first half in a 72-49 victory Saturday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

By winning its sixth straight game, UMass Boston (19-8) advances to meet No. 1 seed and host Eastern Connecticut State University (19-8) in Sunday's 2 p.m. championship game. Eastern downed No. 4 seed Keene State College, 51-30, in Saturday's first semifinal.

Trailing by ten with 3:44 left in the first half, UMass Boston outscored the Corsairs 38-6, moving out to a 56-34 lead with 10:41 left in the contest.

The Beacons, who lost twice this season to Eastern, outscored UMass Dartmouth (19-8), 42-19 in the second half. Boston scored 20 points off 13 UMD turnovers in the second half. Freshman guard Grace Geary and junior forward Olivia Murphy combined to outscore UMD singlehandedly, 27-19 in the second half. Murphy had 13 of her game-high 22 points after the break and Geary 14 of her game total of  21 in the second half. The pair combined on 14-of-16 from the foul line in the game and each contributed five assists. Geary also had four of her team's 17 steals.

Murphy completed a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds, senior Kirsten Morrison teaming down low with Murphy for 13 points and 11 rebounds.

No  player had as many as ten points for the Corsairs, who shot just 30.9 percent from the floor and were outscored 34-14 in the paint.