WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - Freshman forward Nicole Simmler sank her only three pointer of the game to give the Keene State College women's basketball team a five-point lead with a minute left as the Owls held on to defeat Eastern Connecticut State University, 57-54, Tuesday night in a Little East Conference game at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
With the win, Keene State (16-5, 9-2 little east) keeps pace in the conference, remaining two games behind leader University of Southern Maine with three conference regular-season games remaining. Eastern (12-10, 4-7), which has lost five straight conference games since beating Keene State, 61-53 three weeks ago at Keene, NH, remains in sixth place. The Warriors are two games behind Rhode Island College (6-5) for fourth place. The top four finishers in the final regular-season conference standings host first-round conference tournament games in two weeks.
Down by ten, Eastern scored eight straight to cut the gap to two, 52-50, with 1:35 left. Keene missed a shot on its next possession, but freshman guard Kristin Degou grabbed the rebound and fed Simmler. From the top of the key, Simmler swished her only three-point attempt of the game to push the Keene lead back to five, 55-50, with a minutes left. Eastern senior forward Sandy Mosley (Goshen/Wamogo Regional HS), then scored on a layup and was fouled seconds later, but missed the free throw. The rebound was hauled in by Keene sophomore forward Jenn Kinney and senior guard Bri Barnes followed with a jumper that returned the lead to five, 57-52, with 19 seconds left.
Keene outrebounded Eastern, 43-36, and scored 20 second-half points off 18 offensive rebounds. The Warriors missed 19 of 21 three-point field goals and were outscored by ten from the free throw line.
Degou led all players with ten rebounds while senior forward Sarah Begnoche had 12 points, Simmler 11 points and seven rebounds and Kinney ten points and eight rebounds. Simmler was 5-for-5 from the floor.
Eastern sophomore center Ashley McFetridge (Canton/Canton HS) connected on 13 of 14 field goals and finished with a game-high 27 points - scoring half of Eastern's points in the game and 18 of its 28-point second-half total. She was 9-for-9 from the floor over the final 20 minutes. McFetridge, who has finished in double figures in the last 11 games, added a team-high nine rebounds. Her four blocked shots improve her conference-leading total of 35.
KSC is at Western Conn. on Saturday (1 p.m) while Eastern visits Massachustts Dartmouth Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.
(Courtesy Eastern Connecticut Sports Information)
