WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Six-foot senior Lexis Foster (Groton) was two blocked shots shy of a triple-double in leading three Warriors in double figures as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team avenged its only Little East Conference loss of the year with a 64-41 victory over the University of Southern Maine Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

With the victory, Eastern (11-5, 6-1 LEC) has now won four straight overall and seven of eight home games and extends its LEC streak to six since opening the conference season with a 66-59 loss at Southern Maine (2-15, 1-6 LEC). The win, coupled with Keene State College's 65-56 home loss to Massachusetts Dartmouth, moves the Warriors into sole possession of first place at the halfway point of the conference season, one game ahead of Keene and UMass Dartmouth.

Ranked fifth in Division III and first in New England in blocks per game (4.0), Foster equaled her own program game record of eight blocks to go along with additional game-high totals of 13 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes as she extended her season program record to 68 blocks.  She is averaging 6.5 blocks in her last six games.

Eastern senior guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) and sophomore forward Kelsey Santagata (Stamford) each contributed 12 points. Santagata had seven rebounds, freshman forward Mya Villard (Cromwell) coming off the bench for six points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals in 15 minutes.

Eastern scored the first six points of the game and never trailed, outshooting the Huskies 54.2 to 24.1 percent and picking up 12 points off USM's 14 first-half turnovers  in building a 14-point, 32-18 halftime lead. Leading by eight midway through the second quarter, the Warriors assumed the momentum for good by outscoring USM 10-2 over four minutes. Junior Kelly Reardon (Holyoke) sank back-to-back three-pointers in in that stretch, swishing the second one following a block by Villard and defensive rebound by Santagata.

Eastern's pressure defense continued to pay dividends when the Warriors boosted the lead to 21, 47-26, after three quarters. In those ten minutes, Southern Maine missed 16 of 19 field goals and managed only six points from the floor, eight overall. Foster had three of her blocks in the third and the visitors carried a game shooting percentage of 20.8 into the final ten minutes.

Senior guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) and Santagata combined for nine assists in the game, DePoi complementing her five assists with three steals. Foster was perfect (4-of-4) from the floor in the game and Villard 4-of-4 form the stripe.

Freshman guard Jackie Luckhardt led USM with 13 points. Sophomore guard Alexa Srolovitz, who led all players with 19 points in the victory over Eastern in December, was limited to ten points, while freshman forward Chantel Eells topped USM with nine rebounds, junior forward Miranda Nicely grabbing six, and Srolovitz five.

Eastern visits Keene State in an LEC contest Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.