KEENE, N.H. 11/18/2006 - Bri Barnes (Merrimack, N.H.), the tournament MVP, scored a career high 31 points and Sarah Begnoche (Millville, Mass.) finished with a 13 point, 12 rebound double-double to lead the Keene State College women's basketball team to a 81-65 win over Western New England College in the championship game of the PC Connection-KSC Tip-Off Tournament held at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.
It's the 10th time in the past 11 years that Keene State (2-0) has captured its tip-off championship. The Owls had to come from behind for the win.
Western New England went ahead by nine points (32-23) on a baseline jumper by Jen Drobrowski (Plainville, Mass.) with 3:10 to play in the first half. Keene State outscored the Golden Bears 7-2 the rest of the way to cut their deficit to 34-30 at the half.
 Barnes had 10 first half points for the Owls.
With the score knotted at 52-all, the Owls went on a 16-5 run to take a 68-57 on a spinning lay-up by freshman Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.). Begnoche and Barnes had six points each in the run. Degou finished the game with 10 points.
"We dug in defensively and started playing our game," said Barnes about the Owls' turnaround. "The ball was falling for me, but my teammates made some great plays on defense."
"Bri seized the moment, she was clutch down the stretch," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher, who also got strong contributions from several of his players. I thought we turned the corner today."
Dabrowski had 16 points and Sharon Simoncelli (Litchfield, Conn.) finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for WNEC (1-1).
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP: Bri Barnes - Keene State
Christina Deluca - Lasell
Jen Dabrowski - Western New England
Sharon Simoncelli - Western New England
Michele Boudreau - Keene State
Kristin Degou - Keene State
