Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team used a 9-0 run over three minutes spanning the first and second quarters to pull away to a 70-42 Little East Conference victory over Rhode Island College Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Winners of eight straight conference games after an opening loss, Eastern (13-5, 8-1 LEC) never trailed in the game in winning its eighth home game against one loss, completing the regular-season sweep of Rhode Island (5-14, 2-7 LEC) and maintaining a one game lead in the conference standings over Massachusetts Dartmouth. The Corsairs kept pace, avoiding a home upset Saturday by coming from 12 points back in the fourth quarter to down Plymouth State University, 66-65.
Eastern freshman forward Mya Villard (Cromwell) led all players with 16 points and also grabbed nine rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench. Villard spelled senior center Lexis Foster (Groton) after the latter was charged with her second personal foul five minutes into the game. Villard converted her only two shots of the first quarter and was 5-of-9 from the floor and perfect on six free throws in the game.
Senior guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) of Eastern led both teams with ten rebounds and six assists and also blocked two shots and stole the ball twice. Senior guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) had ten points and five assists. All 13 roster players saw action for Eastern, with freshman forward Tara Prochorena (Colchester) credited with her first college point with a free throw with four minutes left in the game. Ranked second nationally in blocks per game (4.29), Foster blocked four, giving her 77 in 18 games (4.28). Nappi extended her consecutive free throw streak to 24 before missing the back end of a two-shot foul late in the first quarter.
Eastern outscored Rhode Island 10-2 over the final five minutes of the second half to build a ten-point lead after one quarter and pushed the lead to 12 a minute into the second on a layup by freshman guard Lizzy Cretella (Cheshire). After the Anchorwomen whittled the Eastern lead to seven later, the Warriors outscored the visitors 9-2 over the final three-plus minutes to carry a 14-point, 36-22 advantage into the second half. Two minutes into the second half, junior guard Kelly Reardon's (Holyoke, MA) three-pointer capped a quick 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 20, 42-22, with 18 minutes left in the game.
No Rhode Island player managed double figures. The team was paced by three freshmen. Jordyn Gauvin and Victoria Demers had nine and eight points, respectively, and Ornela Livramento with seven rebounds.
Eastern played the second half without sophomore forward Kelsey Santagata (Stamford), who did not return after leaving the game with 1:27 left in the first half and the Warriors leading by 12 points. Santagata is the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder. Rhode Island played without second-team All-LEC senior guard Alex Moore, the conference's second-leading scorer (16.3) and team's leading three-point shooter. Santagata had a team-high 14 points and game highs of 11 rebounds and five assists in the earlier win over Rhode Island, while Moore totaled a game-high 26 points in that game, including her 1,000th career point in the final seconds.
Eastern hosts Connecticut College Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a non-conference contest.
