WILLIMANTIC, CT 2/5/02- Sophomore forward Allison Coleman scored 11 points in her team's 12-4 run late in the game as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team downed Keene State College 67-59 Tuesday in a Little East Conference game at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

With its 25th straight regular-season home win, Eastern (20-1, 10-1) is guaranteed of one of two first-round byes in the upcoming conference tournament. The win is the ninth straight for Eastern, which sweeps the season series in snapping Keene's (13-8, 6-5) three-game winning streak. Conference-leader University of Southern ME reMEd a game ahead of ECSU with a 79-75 road win over Plymouth State College Tuesday. Keene and Plymouth remain locked in a two-way tie for third place.

The Owls battled back from an eight-point deficit to tie the game at 42-all midway through the second half. With ECSU leading 50-48 with six minutes left, Coleman scored 11 of her game-high 25 points to ignite a 12-4 run over three minutes which alowed ECSU to move out to a ten-point, 62-52 lead.

Coleman also led all players with 15 rebounds while senior post player Kristyn Grassihad 12 points (5-for-6 from the floor) and eight rebounds. Senior guard Darcy Mund had eight points to move to within 13 of 1,000 in her career and contributed five assists.

Senior forward Erika Forsberg led Keene with 13 points and ten rebounds while freshman guard Cathy Mechare added ten points, all in the second half. Keene scored eight straight points to tie the game at 42-all with 11:37 left, with Mechare scoring seven of the points and tying the game with a three-pointer.

Keene State will now get set for a key LEC game on the road at Western CT (1 p.m.) on Saturday.