GORHAM, Maine – The significant disparity that exists in the Little East Conference women's basketball standings between Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Southern Maine is not reflected on the court, where the Warriors survived to slip past the Huskies for the second time in three days, 50-48, Monday evening at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.
 
Eastern (16-8, 13-2 LEC), which escaped Southern Maine's (6-15, 5-7 LEC) upset bid in double-overtime Saturday afternoon at Geissler Gymnasium, survived again Monday and has now won ten straight games for the first time since the 2008/09 team captured a record 16 in a row en route to an NCAA tournament at-large bid and 25-4 record.
 
Monday, neither team led by more than six points and each led for roughly the same amount of time before USM missed 11 of 13 shots in the fourth quarter to lose a two-point lead entering the final ten minutes, and LEC Player-of-the-Year candidate Anna Barry (Andover) converted an inside basket off a pass from senior guard Julie Keckler (Trumbull) in the final seconds for the final two-point victory.
 
With the win, the Warriors sweep the conference's 20-time tournament champion in the two-game regular-season LEC set for the third straight season. Eastern improved to 8-3 on its opponent's home court this year while USM dropped to 3-5 at Hill Gymnasium.
 
With two regular-season games remaining, Eastern trails leader and defending LEC champion Rhode Island College (18-5, 13-1 LEC) by a half-game. The Warriors close out Wednesday by hosting Western Connecticut (7-14, 2-10 LEC) while the Anchorwomen  visit Massachusetts Dartmouth (16-6, 10-3) Tuesday and host Plymouth State University (1-18, 0-14 LEC) in their regular-season finale.
 
An Eastern win against Western and one RIC loss in its last two games leaves the teams sharing the regular-season title, with tie-breakers determining the tournament's No. 1 seed.
 
Monday, Eastern led by five with 1:18 left on senior guard Jenna Serrantino's (Cromwell) only three-point field goal of the game, but the Huskies responded with a three-point field goal by senior guard Katie Bagley 16 seconds later and after Eastern turned the ball over, grad student Jackie Luckhhardt sank two tying free throws with 37 seconds left after being fouled while rebounding her own miss. Following a timeout, Eastern missed a three-pointer, but maintained possession, setting up Barry's winning points.
 
In the fourth quarter, Eastern failed on eight of nine three-point field goals but the LEC's free-throw leader connected on all four of its free throw attempts after being awarded only four attempts through three quarters.
 
Senior guard Danielle O'Brien (Rockland, MA) equaled her career-high with five three-point field goals and led all players with 15 points. She is shooting 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from distance over the last eight games, twice canning five three-pointers and once connecting on four. Barry, this past week's New England and LEC Player-of-the-Week, had 12 points and 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double in the last 11 games. She also had four assists and added to her program career record with three more blocked shots. Barry and O'Brien combined on 10-of-22 field goal shooting. Keckler had seven points, five rebounds and eight assists and Serrantino equalled her career-high with ten rebounds (six offensive) that gave her team a +10 advantage in that department.
 
Luckhardt, who led USM with 19 points in Saturday's double-overtime loss at Eastern, had a team-high nine rebounds but was 0-of-7 from the floor and finished with five points on free throws.
 
Eastern has now limited its opponent to 50 or less points in 11 games this year, including seven of the last ten.