GORHAM, Maine – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team shot 25 percent with eight turnovers in the fourth quarter after carrying its only lead of the game into the final ten minutes in a 66-59 loss to the University of Southern Maine Saturday afternoon in the Little East Conference opener at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

Eastern (3-3) trailed throughout the game – by as many as 12 points late in the first half – but senior guard Jordyn Nappi's (Southington) three-pointer from the right side in the final seconds of the third quarter capped a 14-6 run and gave the Warriors their only lead, 50-49.

Sophomore guard Alexa Srolovitz – a member of the LEC All-Rookie team last year – nailed a corner three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, however, and freshman guard Jackie Luckhardt followed a minute later with a jump to push Southern Maine's (2-6) lead to four. The Huskies moved out to a seven-point lead with 2:27 left and the Warriors never got closer than five the rest of the way.

A loser of three straight, Eastern outrebounded USM by nine but shot only 35 percent from the floor (14 percent on 22 three-point attempts) and failed on 11 of 23 free throws. The Huskies ended a three-game losing streak with their first home win in three tries.

In the third period when Eastern outscored USM by eight to surge into its only lead, Nappi led both teams with ten bounds and sophomore forward Kelsey Santagata (Stamford) grabbed seven rebounds.

Nappi led Eastern with 16 points but missed ten of 12 three-point field goals, while Santagata  contributed her third double-double in the last five games with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Senior center Lexis Foster (Groton) had eight points and nine rebounds.

Southern Maine, playing without its second-leading scorer, got a game-high 19 points from Sroloviitz, ten points and six rebounds from Luckhardt and nine points and seven rebounds from junior guard Emily Nicholson.

The two-time defending LEC regular-season and tournament champion, Eastern had defeated USM three of the last four times the teams had met. A 20-time LEC tournament champion, Southern Maine has won only one of the last seven titles and was picked for sixth in the LEC in the pre-season, Eastern third.

Eastern hosts Williams College Wednesday at 7 p.m.