KEENE, N.H. 2/26/08- Sophomore guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) scored 13 points and sophomore forward Nicole Simmer (Oxford, Mass.) finished with 11 points and a career high 14 rebounds to lead fourth seed Keene State College to a 58-46 victory over fifth seed Rhode Island College in a quarterfinal Little East Conference women's basketball game at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

"I obviously wasn't scoring, so rebounding was my game tonight," said Simmler. "We lost to them by two points (66-64) down there in overtime, and it left us with an awful feeling. We just wanted to beat them tonight."

"It was a team effort, said KSC Coach Keith Boucher. "We don't have any superstars. Every night it's going to be a different player leading us."

Keene State (16-10) advances to the semifinals where they will play top seed Southern Maine at Gorham, Maine on Friday night. USM rolled over eighth seed UMass-Dartmouth 79-31. The Owls dropped both regular season games to the Huskies and lost 68-57 to USM In last year's championship game.

Senior forward Sherri Heard (Coventry, R.I.) scored RIC's first 10 points, but Keene State was able to pull away from the Anchorwomen with a late first half run.

After a lay-up by Heard cut KSC's lead to two points (21-19) with 4:26 to play, the Owls finished the half with an 11-2 run capped off by a buzzer-beating three-pointer by junior guard Michele Boudreau (Readsboro, Vt.) that gave KSC a 32-21 lead at the break.

Rhode Island scored the first five points of the second half, a free throw by senior guard Sarah Coughlin (North Attleboro, Mass.) cut the Owls' lead to six points (32-26).

KSC went to work inside; consecutive lay-ups by junior Jenn Kinney (Salem N.H.) pushed the Owls' lead back up to 12 points (38-26) at the 14:03 mark.

Seniors guard Daniel Graveley (Schenectady, N.Y.) and Degou buried consecutive three-pointers to make it 48-31 and Simmler later finished a conventional three-point play as KSC extended its lead to 17 points (48-31) with 8:05 to play.

The Anchorwomen didn't go down without a fight. A put-back by Heard capped a 14-3 run that made it a six point game (51-45) with 1:45 to play.

Simmler tied up Heard in the next RIC possession, and ball was awarded to the Owls. Sophomore guard Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.) was fouled hit and hit a pair of free throws to give KSC an eight point cushion (53-45) with 47 second to go. The Owls held off RIC the rest of the way to advance in the tournament.

"We survived that storm and live to play another day. That's the most important thing," said Boucher."

Heard had a game high 17 points and 10 rebound and sophomore guard Alice Mullen scored 14 points for the Anchorwomen, who conclude their season with a 12-13 mark.