#1 - Keene State 73     Regis College 64

KEENE, N.H. 11/20/09 - Senior guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) scored a career high 29 points to lead the Keene State College women's basketball team to a 73-64 victory over Regis (Mass.) College in an opening-round game of the 14th Annual KSC Tip-Off Tournament at Spaulding Gym on Friday. 

The Owls (2-0) advanced to the championship game of the tournament against the University of New England on Saturday (3 p.m.).  Regis College (2-1) will face SUNY-Cobleskill in Saturday's consolation game at 1 p.m. The Owls have won their tournament 12 out of the past 13 years. 

Degou, who was held scoreless in the Owls opener against Nichols, was one of four KSC players to score in double figures.  Sophomore Sara Laudano (West Haven, Conn.) with 14 points, including four three-pointers, freshman Amber Alberto (Waterbury, Conn.) with 11 points, and senior Jen Cleaveland (Newington, Conn.), who had 10 points also hit for double figures in the game.  Sophomore Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) came off the bench to grab a game high 10 rebounds.

Senior Jessica Page (Quincy, Mass.), who hit five three-pointers, led a balanced Regis offense with 16 points.  Junior Brittany White (Dorchester, Mass.) had 14 points, sophomore Stephanie Crawford (Rockland, Mass.) added 11 points, and sophomore Meagan Tobin (Quincy, Mass.) finished with 10 points.  Junior Sarah McNult (Hampstead, N.H.) pulled down a team high eight rebounds.     

The Owls broke open a close game with a flurry of three-pointers at the end of the first half. Laudano connected on back-to-back base-line baskets from behind the arc and Degou concluded the run with a three-ball from the top of the key to send KSC to the locker room with 47-31 lead.   Degou, who had 13 first half point, and Laudano hit three of their four three-point attempts.  Cleaveland gave the Owls an inside presence with 10 first half points. 

Page, who had 10 first half points for Regis, went three-for-three from three-point land.

Both teams shot well from behind the line in the first half.  Keene State was eight of 13 (61%) while the Pride was six for 11 (54%).

Regis came out of the half on fire, using a 17-5 run to cut the owls lead to four points (52-48) on a jumper by junior Brittany White (Dorchester, Mass.) at the 11:43 mark of the second half. 

Degou turned the tide for the Owls with five straight points. Following a block by Cirillo, Degou went in for a lay-up to make it 59-48 with 9:59 to play.

"It was our defense that sparks our offense.  I got easy transition lay-ups because of our defense" said Degou who hit five of her eight three-pointers.  "We're a much better team than the way we played tonight.  We know we have to play a lot better tomorrow night."  

After the Pride made a mild run, Laudano hit a three-pointer off an inbounds play to put the Owls up 64-53 with four minutes to go in the game.  

Keene State Coach Keith Boucher was not pleased with his team's performance.  "I didn't think we played anywhere near we are capable of. Regis came out ready to play and we thought we were going to show up and play," he said.  We got very lucky today." 

KSC finished the game 11 of 21 from three-point land and held a 36-28 advantage on the boards. Regis, who outscored the Owls 33-26 in the second half, went nine for 18 behind the arc.

Game #2 - University of New England 67       SUNY-Cobleskill 47

Sophomores Kari Pelletier (South Paris, Maine) and Margo Russell (Madison, Maine) each finished with 11 points to lead the University of New England women's basketball team to a 67-47 win over SUNY-Cobleskill in the second opening-round game of the 14th Annual KSC Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night.

Senior Katie Diggins (Merrimack, N.H.) had a team high eight rebounds for the Nor'easters. 

Freshman Kaitlin Myers (Dannemora, N.Y) scored 12 points and sophomore Chelcy C. Moore (Albany, N.Y.) had 10 rebounds to lead the Fighting Tigers.

UNE (3-0) advances to the tournament's championship game against Keene State on Saturday (3 p.m.) SUNY-Cobleskill (1-1) will face Regis College in the consolation game on Saturday (1 p.m.)  Keene State defeated UNE 83-69 in last year's final.

Leading by as many as 11 points (30-19), UNE had to settle for a two-point (32-30) halftime lead.  The Nor'easters hurt themselves with 16 first half turnovers.  

The Nor'easters used a three-point hoop by Diggins, a conventional three-point play by Pelletier, and a jumper by Russell to pull ahead 45-32 with 12 minutes to play.  A lay-up by freshman Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) extended UNE's lead to 16 points (53-37) with seven minutes to play.

UNE outscored SUNY-Cobleskill 37-17 in the second half.