'KEENE 1/7/06 - Senior forward Stacey Morse (Lebanon, N.H.) scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Keene State College women's basketball team to a 99-68 Little East Conference victory over UMass-Boston at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.

With the victory, Keene State (8-4, 3-0 LEC) remains undefeated in conference play and tied with Southern Maine for the top spot in the Little East.  UMass-Boston (7-4, 1-2 LEC) saw its four game winning streak come to an end.

The Owls pulled away from the Beacons midway in the first half.  Leading 30-21, KSC 12-3 run push its lead up to 18 points (42-24) on a lay-up by Morse at the 4:33 mark.  The Owls took a 49-31 lead at the break behind Morse's 19 first half points.

Bri Barnes (Merrimack, N.H.) added 18 points, and Bekka Hopkins (Oxford, Mass.) and freshman Jenn Kinney (Salem, N.H.) added 14 points each for the Owls. Kinney also had a team-high nine rebounds. Barnes and Hopkins connected on four three-pointers.

KSC Coach Keith Boucher was pleased with his teams balanced scoring. "Hopefully it's a good sign of things to come.  We haven't been shooting the ball well. Our forwards have been carrying us," he said.  It was nice to see our guards get a few shots today."

"Hopefully our good shooting will continue," Boucher added. "We have a couple of tough road games and come back home next Saturday to face Southern Maine."

LaKeisha Tucker (Pawtucket, R.I.) had 24 points to lead UMB.  Ashley Greene (Brookline, Mass.) finished with 13 points, and Agata Matel (Koryin, Poland) had nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds. 

Keene State is at Western Conn. on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.) while UMass-Boston travels to Plymouth State (5:30 p.m.).