WORCESTER, MASS. 12/30/07 - Shaking off the rust from a 22 day lay-off, the Keene State College women's basketball team defeated Curry College of Milton, Mass. 82-61 in a first-round game of the WPI Holiday Invitational in Worcester, Mass. on Sunday.

Keene State (4-4) will play host WPI in the championship game on Monday (3 p.m.). WPI defeated Wesley (Del.) College (68-54) in the other first-round contest. Curry will face Wesley in the consolation match at 1 p.m.

After a slow start, KSC Coach Keith Boucher was pleased with his teams' effort following the long break.  "I thought our outside shots opened up our inside game and we got some points off our break," he said.  "Overall for a first game back it was a pretty good effort."

Sophomore forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Owls. Sophomore guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) had 16 points, while Danielle Graveley (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Jenn Kinney (Salem, N.H.) chipped in with 12 and 10 points, respectively, to round out KSC's double-figure scorers. Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.) led the Owls on the glass with nine rebounds. 

"It was rough coming back after the break, said Simmler.  "We wanted to start the second semester on a positive note.  I had a lot of open shots.  My teammates did a good job getting me the ball."
           

Trailing 13-5, Keene State used a 15-0 run sparked by Sapp's mid-court pass to Michelle Boland (Worcester, Mass.) for a quick lay-in to take a 20-13 advantage. The Owls scored 11 of the next 15 points to build a commanding 40-24 halftime lead.   
           

KSC pushed its lead up to 25 (58-33) on a pair of free throws from Simmler at 12:54 in the second half. Curry chipped away at the lead with 11 straight points for a 15-point deficit (43-58), but would get no closer.
           

Cortney Robinson (Brockton, Mass.) led Curry (3-4) with a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds.
 

WPI, a member of the NEWMAC conference brings a 3-4 record into Monday's championship game.  "WPI is a good team," Boucher said. They're a disciplined on offense and we're going to have to play a very good game to beat them."