'KEENE, N.H. 12/08/05 - Bri Barnes (Merrimack, N.H.) led a balanced Owl offense with 17 points to lift the Keene State College women's basketball team to a 74-61 non-conference victory over Nichols College on Thursday at Spaulding Gym. 

The Owls improve to 5-1, while Nichols falls to 2-4. 

KSC went into the break with a 32-26 lead.  The Owls took their biggest lead of the first half (32-24) on a Caitlin Jamiel (Cranston, R.I.) lay-up with just over a minute remaining.  Nichols closed the deficit to six points (32-26) when Heather Clarke (Henniker, N.H.) connected on a jumper with just 45 seconds left in the half.   

Barnes led the Owls with 11 first-half points.

Early in the second half, KSC pulled away from the Bison with a 9-0 run, capped by a Sarah Begnoche (Millville, Mass.) shot and a free throw by Bekka Hopkins' (Oxford, Mass.) to make it 40-26 at the 17:22 mark. 

Nichols cut the lead down to five (54-49) on a three-pointer by Kristina Weasel (Wakefield, R.I.) at the 8:01 mark, but would not get any closer.

Bechnoche and Emily Flewelling (Pittsford, Vt.) had 13 points apiece and Stacey Morse (Lebanon, N.H.) finished with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the Owls. 

Stacey Hejwosz (Dudley, Mass.) led the Bison with 17 points, while MaryLynn Skarzenski (Woodbridge, N.J.) chipped in with 12 points. Clarke had a team-high nine rebounds for Nichols.   

Keene State returns to Little East Conference play when it travels to UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday (1 p.m.).  Nichols is off until Dec. 28 when it faces Hamline University (3 p.m.) on its winter trip in Florida.