'KEENE, N.H. 12/4/02  –  Katie Latham (Wakefield, MA.) had 17 points and 11 rebounds, including the tying basket and the go-ahead free throw with 1:17 to play, to lead Amherst College to a 52-49 victory over Keene State College in a non-conference women's basketball game played Wednesday at Spaulding Gym.

Andrea Arsenault (Dover, N.H.) had 16 points and Julie Tardif (Atkinson, N.H.) finished with 14 points to lead Keene State (4-2), which had its three game winning streak snapped.

Trailing 28-22 at the half, the Owls took their first lead of the game (34-32) on a jumper from Stacey Morse (Lebanon, N.H.) at the 11:52 mark of the second half.

Later in the half, Tardif scored a basket and connected on a pair of free throws to give KSC a 49-45 lead with 4:33 to play.

Amherst tied the game at 49-all on Latham's put back after getting an offensive rebound at the 1:52 mark.  Her free throw game the Jeffs the lead for good at 50-49.

KSC had a chance to win the game when Arsenault stole the ball with 30 seconds to play.  But after calling timeout, the Owls offense broke down, and Mary Crawford 's (Mt. Holly, Vt.) drive was blocked by Latham as time expired on the shot clock.

"We designed something, but it didn't work the way we wanted it to, " said KSC Coach Keith Boucher.  "You have to know how much time you have left, and we didn't execute very well."

After Sara Bozorg (Amherst, MA.) hit a pair of free throws to make it 52-49, KSC had one last chance to tie the score.  But the Owls could not get off a shot as time expired.

The Owls, who fell behind by as much as 14 points (26-12) in the first half, had to over come a huge size difference.  "We gave them two or three inches at ever position, but except for a period in the first half, I thought we played very well defensively," Boucher said.  "We just have to get better in our half court offense." 

It was a disappointing loss for Keene State.  "It was a tough one to lose because the kids played really hard," Boucher said. "We have UMA-Boston on Saturday. "If you're going to lose one, I'd rather lose tonight, than lose a conference game.  This is good preparation for us.  Both teams have size and play physical."

Hayley Alaimo (Ellington, CT) had 11 rebounds for KSC, which lost the battle of the boards 49-38 to the taller Jeffs.

Shannon Russell (Shrewsbury, MA.) had 12 points and Caitlin Farrell (Lafayette, CA.) added 11 points and eight rebounds for undefeated Amherst (3-0).

KSC has lost all four games in the series to Amherst.

                                         -30-