KEENE, N.H. 2/17/2007 - Senior guard Bri Barnes (Merrimack, N.H.) had 23 points to lead the Keene State College women's basketball team to a 62-50 upset victory over No. 4 ranked (D3 Hoops) (6th/WBCA Poll)University of Southern Maine at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.
It was the ninth straight win for the Owls (19-5, 12-2 LEC) who notched their first-ever win over the Huskies in LEC play - a span that includes 22 games.
Keene State last defeated USM 81-49 on March 4, 1978. It was the Huskies first LEC loss since the 2002-03 when they dropped a 77-66 game to Plymouth State.
"We've been playing our best basketball in the past few weeks," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher. "Today we talked about being physical and taking it to them. They have the Ashley Marble, the best player in the country and we did everything possible to defend.
Marble, who came into the game averaging 22.9 points, was held to 12 points to go with 10 rebounds.
"We went out on the court knowing how hard and tough we had to play against them," said senior forward Sarah Begnoche, who got into early foul trouble and was limited to six points and seven rebounds.
The Owls will enter the LEC tournament with a program-best second seed and will face seventh seed Plymouth State on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The top seed Huskies (22-2, 13-1 LEC), who lost for the first time in 19 games, will host eighth seed UMass-Dartmouth.
The Owls took a eight point lead on a three-pointer by Michele Boudreau (Readsboro, Vt.) at the 4:52 mark and went ahead by 10 (30-20) on a trey by Barnes at the buzzer. Barnes had 14 first half points for KSC. The Owls had the lead despite missing nine (6-15) free throw attempts.
Begnoche, who sat out the last 12 minutes of the first half with foul trouble, opened the half with two baskets to push KSC's lead up to 14 (34-20).
Sonya O'Tash's (Alfred, Me.) basket cut the Owls lead to six (43-37) with 11:14 to go. A 13-6 KSC run, capped off by a three-pointer by Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.), gave the Owls an 11 point advantage (54-43) with 5:46 to play.
KSC buried eight of 10 free throws down the stretch to secure to win.
"We worked very hard this week and wanted to show everyone what you can do when you put your mind to it," said Barnes. "We have a very good team and we proved it today."
