Box Score
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Sparked by three first-year players, the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team outscored Saint Joseph's College (ME) 17-3 over nine minutes in the second half and won going away, 65-45, in the opening round of the Williams College Shooting Touch Tournament Friday evening at the Chandler Athletic Center.
 
A winner of three of its last four and second in three days on the road, Eastern (3-5) faces host Williams in the title game Saturday at 3 p.m. Williams' (5-3) bench outscored Wellesley College, 22-0, on the way to a 60-50 victory in Friday's first game.
 
Playing three first-year players, a sophomore and a junior for long stretches in the game, Eastern never trailed against Saint Joseph's (4-5), with the final 20-point margin its widest in the game. Leading by five at the break, Eastern outscored the Monks, 36-21 in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the floor in a 19-point third quarter that made it a 12-point game heading into the final turn.
 
First-year point guard Juliana Conte (Wakefield, MA) – who had scored six points in the team's first seven games -- scored all eight of her points after the break. First-year wing Maddie Topa (New Hartford) recorded seven of her 12 points and grabbed five of her seven rebounds over the final 20 minutes, and sophomore forward Isabella Romero (Peabody, MA) tossed in ten of her career-high 13 points in the second half.
 
Conte and fellow point guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford), a sophomore, both drained two three-pointers in the second half as Eastern converted five of 11 from distance after going 2-of-8 from long range in the first half. First-year guard Katelyn Novak (Colchester) managed only one field goal – a three-point in the opening minutes of the second half – but led the Warriors with a season-high nine rebounds, handed out six assists, stole three balls and blocked a shot. Novak  and Topa came off the floor for only a combined three minutes in the game.
 
With 11 points, junior forward Marissa Nudd (Colchester) was one of Eastern's four double-digit scorers and moved to within seven points of 500 in her two-year Eastern career. She also helped Eastern to a +7 advantage in rebounds with eight.
 
Eastern appeared to be on the verge of breaking the game open in the second quarter after Nudd sank four free throws in a little over 30 seconds and Romero connected on her first field goal attempt that pushed the Warriors  into a nine-point, 26-17 lead with 6:13 left in the half.
 
At that point, the Warriors went cold for six minutes – missing six shots from the floor and turning the ball over three times on nine possessions, and 5-foot-5 inch Saint Joseph's guard
 
Elisabeth Stapelfeld scored four points in a span of 17 seconds by putting back her own missed shot in and dropping in a driving layup from the left side that cut the Warriors' lead to five, 29-24, at halftime.
 
Six-foot junior forward Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, NH) of Eastern converted four of her five field goal attempts and grabbed three rebounds in the first half – scoring all of her first-half points in succession on three inside hoops and a jumper – but was whistled for her second foul of the half two minutes into the second quarter and came off the floor. She finished the game with eight points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes.
 
Paquette, Cassesse and Top combined to connect on 13 of 27 field goals (48.1 percent).
 
Williams, 14-11 a year ago, leads the all-time series with Eastern, 6-3, having won six of the last seven. The teams have not met since the Ephs claimed a 74-59 win over the Warriors at Geissler Gym  seven years ago. Two days prior to Friday's win over Wellesley – where 5-foot-11 inch senior Logan Coster had 11 points and 13 rebounds – Williams was beaten on the road by No. 4 nationally-ranked Smith College, 67-48.
 
The victory over Saint Joseph's was the 298^th in the 23-year coaching career of first-year Eastern coach Mandy King.