WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Western New England University's Meghan Gilhool sank a driving layup to break the ninth and final tie of the game with three seconds left and the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team missed a potential game-tying baseline jumper as time expired as the Golden Bears defeated the Warriors for the first time in this ten-game series, 67-65, in a non-conference game Thursday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Sophomore post player Mya Villard's (Cromwell) inside hoop with four minutes left gave Eastern (1-5) its final lead, before Meghan Orbann and Caroline Niland each converted a pair of free throws around Eastern's missed three-point field goal as Western New England (5-2) opened up a three-point lead with 2:30 left.

Eastern sophomore guard Sabrina LeMere's (North Branford) jump shot from the left side off a pass from Villard forged the final tie with 32 seconds left, 65-65, but Gilhool connected with time running out for what proved to be the winning points. With time running down on the shot clock, Gilhool utilized a pick from Courtney Carlson to free herself and drive from the top of the circle down the left side. Needing to beat only one defender, she banked in a layup with her right hand as the shot clock headed toward zero. Following a timeout with 2.8 seconds left, Eastern inbounded in its own offensive end but a hurried shot from the baseline hit the side of the backboard, and Gihool corralled the rebound as time expired.

The teams were tied at halftime, but WNE broke quickly in the second half, scoring seven straight early points to move out to a 38-31 lead midway through the third quarter. While the Warriors were missing three in a row, the Golden Bears hit three in a row, Dorothy O'Neill sinking a three-point, Carlson scoring inside and Gilhool nailing a jumper. The Warriors tied the game late in the quarter on the strength of three straight buckets by sophomore guard Lizzy Cretella (Cheshire), and trailed by only one after three quarters.

Caroline Niland was 5-of-6 from the floor and finished with a team-high 16 points in 15 minutes off the bench for WNE, with Lauren Chadwick following with 11 points. Five different WNE players chipped in between six and eight points. Gilhool had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

As a team, WNE was successful on 15 of 20 free throws.

Cretella led Eastern with 17 points on 50 percent field goal shooting and also grabbed six rebounds. Junior post Kelsey Santagata (Stamford) had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Villard 11 points. LeMere came off the bench for nine points, four assists and three rebounds. Senior forward Emily Menendez (Shelton), who had taken two shots in 14 minutes this year, gave the Warriors a lift off the bench by sinking all three of her shots in nine minutes of action. She hit a jumper and inside bucket in the final minutes of the second quarter, pulling Eastern to within one with her second basket, then helping Eastern slice a seven-point WNE lead to one in the third quarter with another inside basket.

Eastern hosts Plymouth State University Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.