SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  --  Senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) scored 18 of her season-high 24 points to pace the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team to a  17-point halftime lead en route to a 71-55 non-conference victory over Western New England University Tuesday evening at the Alumni Healthful Living Center.
 
Leading by ten after one quarter, Eastern (2-3) limited Western England (2-4) to seven second-quarter points on 23.1 percent shooting from the floor (0-for-5 from three) and forced the Golden Bears into six turnovers in the quarter in ending a three-game losing streak at the hands of WNEU and improving  to 10-3 in the all-time series.
 
Keckler scored nearly half (11) of her team's 24 points in the first quarter, going 5-for-6 from the floor and sparking the Warriors to 10-for-15 shooting from the field and into a ten-point, 24-14. It marked Keckler's three 20-plus point of the season and her ten field goals represented a career-high. She is averaging a team-high 19.2 points.
 
After the Golden Bears sliced Eastern's lead to eight four minutes into the second quarter, the Warriors outscored the hosts 12-3 the rest of the way to take a 17-point, 38-21 lead into the half. Keckler's three-pointer got the 12-3 streak going and after WNEU hit one of two free throws, senior forward Anna Barry (Andover) grabbed an offensive rebound and fed senior forward Aiyana Ward (Waterbury) for a layup and free throw that pushed the lead to 13, 32-19. Senior guard Jenna Serrantino (Cromwell) later capped the run by canning a pair of free throws.
 
Serrantino tied her career high with 17 points, seven of her points coming on ten free throw attempts. She was also 5-for-9 from the floor in helping Eastern to shoot 45.5 percent from the floor and 77.3 percent (17-for-22) from the stripe and had five rebounds and three assists.
 
Averaging 16 turnovers through the first four games, Eastern gave the ball away a season-low six times, no one committing as many as two. Eastern's starters each had only one in an average of 33 minutes.
 
The Warriors host Connecticut College Sunday at 3 p.m. The Camels (1-4) have lost three straight but the most recent one was a 79-36 decision at Division I College of the Holy Cross.  Eastern leads the all-time series, 18-8 and has won the last two including a 66-57 decision when the team's last met at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium in 2018-19.