WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior All-America Anna Barry (Andover) had her sixth double-double of the season and added a season-high six blocked shots -- including the 200th of her career --  as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team remained undefeated in the Little East Conference with a 71-47 victory over Plymouth State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

The six-foot Barry – last year's LEC Offensive and Defensive Player-of-the-Year -- had seven points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in the first half and sophomore Taylor Salato (East Haven) scored 16 of her career-high 22 points over the first 20 minutes as Eastern (7-3, 3-0 LEC) built a ten-point halftime lead and eased to its 21^st consecutive win over Plymouth (4-5, 0-3 LEC).

A winner of seven of eight since an 0-2 start, Eastern outscored Plymouth 21-5 over the first eight minutes of the game, when the Panthers missed eight of their first ten shots with four turnovers. Salato closed out that 21-5 run by scoring the final six points, with Barry grabbing seven rebounds, blocking a shot and scoring four points in that decisive stretch.

Barry grabbed 16 rebounds for the third straight games – two shy of her career-high -- to go along with 11 points. The program's all-time leader in blocked shots, Barry's first blocked shot of the second half -- when Plymouth's Autumn Nelson tried turning a steal into two points --  gave her 200 in her four-year career. Her block total was two shy of her game-high of eight. She has 202 blocks, 1,133 points and 733 rebounds in her 90-game career. Salato posted career-highs with 22 points and 13 rebounds and also blocked two shots in 20 minutes, with senior forward Mariah Dunn (Meriden) and senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) each adding 11 points and senior guard Jenna Serrantino (Cromwell) helping Eastern to a +26 advantage on the boards with eight rebounds.

In a game whose final margin was 24 points,it was Eastern's dominant inside game against Plymouth's outside shooting accuracy. Uniquely, Plymouth outscored Eastern by 24 points from three-point range (Eastern was 0-of-14 from distance) but the Warriors outscored the visitors by 24 points in the paint. The Panthers were 8-of-23 from distance -- including 6-of-12 in the first half when they got three-pointers from three different players in a stretch of less than two minutes that helped clip seven points off a 13-point second-quarter lead and brought PSU to within six points with just under three minutes left in the first half. Plymouth was unable to get any closer when it missed four of its final five shots of the half and Eastern got a putback by Serrantino, and four free throws in the final 34 seconds of the half by Salato that restored a double-digit (38-28) cushion at the break. Forty-four of Eastern's points and 32 of its rebounds came from inside players Barry, Dunn and Salato.

 Off the bench in the first half, Salato was 5-of-7 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the foul line with six rebounds in 12 minutes.

Coming off a two-win season last year, Plymouth dropped its third straight (LEC) game, allowing more than 70 points for the third time this year. Freshman guard Sophie George led PSU with 14 points, with senior forward Jalen Cook  added 12. Junior forward Sabrina Vlahovic  and senior guard Autumn Nelson each had six rebounds.

Eastern faces Endicott College Dec. 30 in the first round of the Judy Pearson '85 Memorial Tournament, hosted by Babson College, and meets Middlebury College the following afternoon.