Box Score PROVIDENCE, R.I. --  Rhode Island College's first lead of the game seven minutes into play proved to be the only one it needed as the Anchorwomen rolled up a 13-point first-half advantage and was never threatened in the second half in a 51-37 Little East conference women's basketball victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Wednesday afternoon at The Murray Center.
 
In a meeting between the top two teams in the LEC pre-season poll and in a matchup of two early-season LEC unbeatens, Rhode Island (11-2, 5-0 LEC) won its tenth straight this year and ended Eastern's (9-4, 3-1 LEC) five-game winning streak.
 
The two-time defending LEC tournament champion Anchorwomen used an early 12-2 scoring run to take a nine-point lead midway through a sloppy first quarter punctuated by a combined 15 turnovers. After Rhode Island took  its double-digit lead, 24-13, with three minutes left in the first half, the lead dipped into single digits only twice thereafter, 37-28, on senior All-America Anna Barry's (Andover) bank shot with three minutes left in the third quarter and at 41-32 on senior guard Julie Keckler's (Trumbull) left-side jumper a minute into the fourth quarter.
 
The game was virtually a 5-on-1 battle with Rhode Island's starters against Barry, last week's NCBWA national Player-of-the-Week. For the second straight game, Eastern did not receive a point from its bench – and only seven from three starters --with Barry collecting her eighth double-double of the season (fifth straight) by scoring nearly half of the team's points, with 16, and grabbing 17 rebounds in 38 minutes. Keckler was the team's only other double-digit scorer, with 14 points. The team's other seven players that saw time were 2-of-25 from the floor.
 
Eastern shot a season-low 24.1 percent from the floor (18.8 percent when RIC took command with a 17-6 scoring advantage in the second quarter) and committed at least 20 turnovers 922) for the fifth time this year. Eastern's final point total was its lowest of the season.
 
Senior guard Jeniyah Jones led Rhode Island with 15 points and ten rebounds and senior forward Izabelle Booth helped her team a +4 advantage on the boards, with 12.
 
A year ago, Eastern bounced back from a 26-point home loss to Rhode Island College in early January to post a 60-57 overtime victory at The Murray Center a month later.
 
Eastern visits Castleton University in a conference game Saturday at 1 p.m.