KEENE, N.H.  1/8/09 -Junior guard Alyssa Sapp (Harford, Vt.) scored a career high 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Keene State women's basketball team to a 62-41 non-conference victory over Westfield State at Spaulding Gym on Thursday night.

The KSC Owls (10-2), winners of five straight, are off to their best start since the 1989-90 team also opened up its season with a 10-2 mark.

Westfield State (9-3) was looking to tie the school record for its best start.  The 1994-95 WSC team went 10-2.  Current Westfield coach Andrea Bertini was a junior on that team.

The KSC Owls utilized a late first half spurt to take a 30-17 lead at the break.  Leading 16-15, KSC ended the half with a 14-2 run.  Sapp had six of her 14 first half points during the run.  Sapp connected on six of seven shots from the field.

Westfield State struggled from the field, hitting six of 21 shots and committing 14 first half turnovers.

Westfield scored first five points of the second half to cut the lead to eight points (30-22) on a three-point basket by senior guard Katie Sylvain (Hadley, Mass.).  KSC came back to outscore WSC 13-3 to go up 43-25 on a lay-up by senior point guard Michele Boudreau (Readsboro, Vt.).

Junior guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) had 12 points and Boudreau finished with 10 points for Keene State.  Senior forward Jenn Kinney (Salem, N.H.) also had seven rebounds.

With Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) missing the game with an injury, Sapp stepped up for the Owls.  "Alyssa did a great job tonight," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher.  "She is like the unforgotten player on our team. Alyssa does a lot of the little things and tonight we needed someone to step up offensively and she did a great job."

"I knew someone had to step up and I was open and my shots were dropping for me," said Sapp, who hit nine of her 11 shots in the game.  "I'm glad I was able to pick up the scoring slack."

Senior forward Andrea Wasuk (Lenox, Mass.) was the only WSC in double figures, finishing with 10 points to go with seven rebounds.  Sophomore forward Christal Bello (West Boylston, Mass.) had a game high eight rebounds. Westfield hit 10 of its 42 shots (24%) from the field.

KSC out-rebounded WSC 45-33.

Keene State returns to Little East play on Saturday when it hosts UMass-Dartmouth (1 p.m.)

Westfield State travels to Bridgewater State for a MASCAC game on Saturday at 1 p.m.