Box Score PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- Senior guard Jordyn Nappi (Southington) had a game-high 19 points and senior forward Lexis Foster (Groton) equaled her program game record with eight blocked shots as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team defeated Plymouth State University for its ninth straight Little East Conference win, 60-47, Saturday afternoon at Foley Gymnasium.
With four LEC regular-season games remaining, Eastern (15-6, 9-1 LEC) maintains a one-game lead over UMass Dartmouth in the race for its third straight LEC regular-season title. The Warriors won their fifth straight road game, improved to 10-2 in its last 12 games overall and defeated Plymouth State (5-14, 2-8 LEC) for the 12th straight time.
Ranked second nationally with an average of 4.2 blocks entering the game, Foster blocked a program-record eight shots for the third time this year, improving her season record to 92 and moving her to within 11 of establishing a program career record of 159.
Sixth all-time in career points, Nappi led the Warriors in scoring for the 12th time this year and complemented 7-of-15 field goal shooting with a career-high ten rebounds which provided her with her first double-double of the season.
The Warriors forced Plymouth into 26.5 per cent shooting from the floor, with senior guard Julia DePoi (Brookfield) primarily responsible for limiting Plymouth top scorer Ace Lawrence to six points on 2-of-12 shooting from the floor. Lawrence, ranked fourth in the conference with a 13.7 scoring average, was held off the board (0-for-her-first 8 shots) until swishing back-to-back three-pointers in the early minutes of a largely anti-clamtic fourth quarter.
Freshman forward Mya Villard (Cromwell) had a game-high 11 rebounds and freshman guard Lizzy Cretella (Cheshire) equaled her career-high with ten points. Cretella contributed eight points in the first half to help the Warriors build a 20-point, 32-12 lead before leaving the game three minutes into the second quarter (she later returned) with an injury. Foster finished with 12 points and six rebounds to go along with eight blocks.
The Warriors moved out to a comfortable lead early in the second half before the Panthers battled back. Shooting over 50 percent in the first eight minutes of the third quarter – while Eastern was 3-of-12 – Plymouth pulled to within seven with six minutes left in the game. At that point, Nappi scored inside and sank two free throws soon after to help Eastern restore a 12-point, 54-42 lead with just under three minutes left.
Kayla Wyland led Plymouth with 14 points and seven rebounds before being issued her fifth personal foul with 5:28 left and her team trailing by eight.
Eastern hosts Western Connecticut State University Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in a conference game.
