WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team led from start to finish after scoring the first seven points of the game and forcing nine first-quarter turnovers in coasting  to a 76-46 Little East Conference victory over Plymouth State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

A winner of its last six home games after losing its conference home-opener two months ago, Eastern (16-5, 8-2 LEC) maintains a share of the top spot in the conference with Western Connecticut, which dumped UMass Dartmouth, 76-65, on the road Saturday. With four games remaining in the regular season, the top four teams are separated by two games.

Now 27-1 against Plymouth (6-15, 0-10 LEC) in the last 28 meetings, Eastern was 8-of-16 from the floor in the first quarter and forced nine Plymouth turnovers to build an 11-point, 21-10 lead after ten minutes. Leading by 16, 44-28, at halftime, the Warriors outscored the Panthers 18-3 in the third quarter --Plymouth's points coming from the foul line -- to double Plymouth's score heading into the final quarter.

Eastern dominated the paint, outscoring Plymouth 42-8 and outrebounding the Panthers, 39-23. The Warriors shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor.

At left: Senior Jill Ritrosky displays her 1,000th-rebound ball presented prior to the game. She is flanked by head coach Denise Bierly and fellow senior co-captain Victoria Pfohl. Ritrosky became the second player in program history with as many as 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds with her 1,000th rebound Jan. 27 against Keene State.

Junior guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) led three Eastern double-figure scorers with 17 points (7-of-11 from the floor), senior forward Jill Ritrosky (Pittsfield, MA) adding 15 points (7-of-11 from the floor) and seven rebounds, junior center Lexis Foster (Groton) scoring 12 points (4-of-5 from the floor) with five rebounds. Junior guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) led all players in the game with nine rebounds. Senior guard Danyelle Rodriguez (Willimantic)  chipped in eight points (2-of-r4 from three-point range) in 17 minutes off the bench.

Plymouth, which has lost nine straight after going 6-2 in its previous eight, got a team-high eight points off the bench from junior guard Madison Beatrice and five reboudns from junior forward Annaliese Schmidt.

Eastern visits Western Connecticut in a conference game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.