Box Score
NEW LONDON, Conn. – As a possible indicator as to the improvement of this year's Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team from a year ago, one needs to look no further than the Warriors' 68-65 overtime loss to Connecticut College Tuesday night at the Charles Luce Field House.
 
After absorbing a 38-point beatdown last year on its home court to a Camel team with finished 6-17, Eastern (1-6) took a four-point lead into the final two minutes of regulation Tuesday before an improved Conn College (5-1) sank four clutch free throws to force overtime, then broke the 11^th and final tie with two minutes left in regulation when sophomore guard Mia Xerras nailed her first three-pointer since midway through the second quarter. A jump shot by sophomore forward Addi Hunter off an Eastern missed shot and turnover pushed the Conn lead to five, 64-59 with a minute left, and as it did at the end of regulation, the hosts insured the win with four free throws in the final 30 seconds.
 
In games decided by six or fewer points this year, Eastern fell to 0-3 and to 0-4 on its opponents' home court. The Camels won at home for the fourth time in as many games.
 
Eastern trailed for the majority of the game but never by more than seven, which was the margin  with 70 seconds left in the first quarter following a a two-pointer by freshman forward Sydney Marshall and a three-pointer by junior forward Hallie O'Toole around an Eastern miss.
 
The Warriors assumed their largest lead – four points – when senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) broke a tie with a pair of inside buckets 25 seconds apart with four minutes left in the third quarter.
 
Eastern outscored the Camels, 16-6, over five-plus minutes in the fourth quarter and carried a four-point lead into the final two minutes after senior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) converted a pair of free throws. A steal by Salato gave the Warriors a chance to all but seal the win with a chance to go up by seven), but Eastern gave it right back (and also turned it over on its next possession) and O'Toole and Hunter's free throws sent the game into overtime.
 
Salato racked up her fourth straight 20-point game and third double-double in a row with a game and season-high 26 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Salato was 10-of-12 from the stripe and remains the program's all-time leader in free throw percentage at 83.8. Sophomore forward Marissa Nudd (Colchester) and Mayo (a career-high) each had 13 points. In a season-high 15 minutes, first-year forward Isabella Romero (Peabody, MA) grabbed a season-high seven rebounds, with Mayo adding six  and first-year point guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford) five as the Warriors outrebounded the taller (four six-footers) Camels by nine.
 
Eastern's bench amassed a season-high 40 minutes (shared by five players) but was outscored, 22-5. O'Toole came off the Conn bench for eight points in 20 minutes and Marshall added seven point off the bench in 17 minutes, the pair also combining for five rebounds.
 
The Warriors return to Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium for only their second and third home games of the season, hosting Salve Regina University (3-3) Saturday at 1 p.m. in a non-conference game before opening their Little East Conference season Dec. 4 at 5 p.m. against the University of Southern Maine.
 
The Warriors are 9-0 all-time against Salve (3-3), the last meeting coming 17 years ago. The Seahawks (10-16 last year) are coming off Tuesday night's 74-61 win over once-beaten Suffolk University at the Rodgers Recreation Center. Salve erased six-point deficits after one quarter and after one half, outscoring Suffolk by 19 in the second half as its capitalized on 25 Suffolk turnovers to score 25 points. Six-foot-1 junior forward Sofia Neary had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Seahawks.
 
Southern Maine (4-2, 0-0 LEC) dropped an 80-58 decision to nationally-ranked Bates College Tuesday night and visits Saint Joseph's College (ME) Sunday in a non-conference game before visiting Eastern. Southern Maine leads the all-time series with Eastern, 68-32, but the Warriors  have captured nine of the last ten, including the last four at Geissler Gym.