Women's Basketball Timing Would be Right for Home Win in Regular Season Finale

2/20/2026 7:55:00 PM

Team Records:
Eastern Connecticut: 8-16 (5-10 LEC)
Plymouth State: 10-14 (3-12 LEC)

Series History:

88th meeting all time, dating back to the 1983-84 season. Eastern leads the series, 76-11, including a 73-55 decision Jan. 10 at Foley Gymnasium. In that win, Liv Cassesse and Maddie Topa each had game-highs of 19 points to lead four Eastern double-figure scorers, while Hailey Malozzi led PSU with 18 points and ten rebounds... Alyssa Paquette helped Eastern to a slim rebounding lead, with 11...15 offensive rebounds helped the Warriors to 16 second-chance points... Cassesse added five rebounds and five assists and two steals... leading by six points after three quarters, Eastern outscored PSU 21-9 over the final ten minutes to pull away...
The Warriors look for their second sweep of the Panthers in as many year, having gone overtime last year for the 53-47 first-game win at Geissler Gym before taking a 64-49 victory in the second game of last year's home-and-home series.
Eastern has won 13 of its last 14 against PSU at Geissler Gym, the loss coming in the back end of the 2023/24 series, 63-55. Eastern's previous home loss to Plymouth prior to that game was a 55-53 decision in the second game of the 2011/12 series.

Game Notes:

Eastern closes out the regular season under first-year head coach Mandy King looking for its first home win in five weeks... unofficially, a win today guarantees the Warriors a spot in the Little East Conference tournament which gets underway with first-round games on Tuesday... if they qualify, the Warriors will unofficially be the No. 6 seed and will visit third-seeded Keene State College... an Eastern loss, coupled with a Western Connecticut loss today against visiting UMass Dartmouth, would also unofficially put the Warriors in the tournament.
While Plymouth has failed to qualify for the tournament, the Panthers have doubled last year's win total with a roster that includes seven freshmen... Eastern hopes to end the regular season having snapped a five-game losing streak while Plymouth looks to end its own three-game skid... the Panthers last won on the road nine weeks ago in an LEC victory at WestConn which aided Eastern's post-season cause.
In less than two full years at Eastern, second-year junior transfer Marissa Nudd has already moved to within 13 points of 800. Nudd made her 50^th consecutive start against Keene State here this past Saturday.
Cassesse needs six assists to reach 100 this year and 27 to reach 200 in her career. Like Nudd, Cassesse started her 50^th straight game this past Saturday against Keene State.
Nudd (17.9), Cassesse (11.9) and Topa (11.6) have combined to average 67 percent of Eastern's points this year. Nudd also leads Eastern with a 6.9 rebounding average, with Paquette at 5.8.
Plymouth opened the season with an 8-2 record (all of the wins coming in non-conference action), but is 2-12 since Jan. 6. Malozzi leads PSU with a 14.0 scoring average (and also with a 6.8 rebounding mark) as the team's only double-digit scorer. Macy Swormstedt, a freshman has totalled a team-high 80 assists (3.3 per game). No PSU player has started all 24 games, Malozzi's 23 the closest on the team.

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