WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - Senior guards Nicky Morey
(Columbia, CT) and Christina Amato (Marlboro, MA) each sank two
free throws in the final 14 seconds to help No. 1 seed Eastern
Connecticut State University fend off No. 4 seed Keene State
College, 61-56, in the semifinal round of the 2009 Little East
Conference women's basketball tournament Friday night at Francis E.
Geissler Gymnsium.
Defending conference tournament champion Eastern (25-2) faces
No. 3 seed and 18-time champion University of Southern Maine (21-6)
in Saturday's LEC title game. Trailing by 11 points with 11 minutes
left, the Huskies outscored No. 2 seed Western Connecticut State
University (21-5) 24-9 the rest of the way to avenge to
regular-season losses to the Colonials and post a 56-51 victory.
Eastern set a program record with its 16th straight
victory, completing a three-game sweep of Keene State (20-7) to
move into the tournament final for the 13th time
in the tournament's 23-year history. Eastern and Southern
Maine will be meeting in the final for the 13th time.
The Huskies have won nine times, but the Warriors recorded an
overtime victory over USM in last year's championship game at
Gorham, ME. Eastern has lost both times to Southern Maine when the
title game was played in Willimantic.
Eastern 61, Keene State 56
Keene led by eight in the first half and Eastern by seven with
11 minutes left in the game. The Owls used a five-point run to
surge into a four-point, 53-49 lead with six minutes left on Sarah
Laudano's three-point field goal, but the Warriors answered with
eight straight points of their own to to take a four-point,
57-53 lead with 33 seconds left. Senior forward Kate Brunet
(Bristol, CT), who had only two first-half ponts, scored five of
those points.
Freshman guard Courtney Cirillo's (Windsor Locks,
CT) only three-point field goal of the game with 18
seconds left pulled Keene to within one, 57-56, but Morey swished
two free throws with 14 seconds left, and Amato canned two to seal
the win with one second left.
Morey led Eastern with 14 points, sophomore guard Jessica
Moriarty (East Haven, CT) and senior forward Ashley McFetridge
(Canton, CT) adding 12 each and Brunet 10. McFetridge, who was
6-for-9 from the floor, led all players with nine rebounds.
Amato had seven assists and five rebounds and Moriarty dished off
five assists.
"I thought we played hard for 40 minutes," said KSC Coach Keith
Boucher. "We had a couple of threes in the closing minute
that just didn't fall out way. We didn't make enough
plays at the end."
As far as the post season is concerned, Boucher says the Owls
hopes to make it to the NCAA tournament are slim and they should be
the top seed in the ECAC tournament. Pairing will be anounced
on Monday.
Junior guard Kristen Degou (Newburyport, MA),
who had score 31 points in two regular-season meetings with
Eastern, had just seven points on 2-for-9 shooting from the
floor. Junior forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford,
MA), second to Degou this year in scoring for Keene, was
held scoreless (0-for-7 from the floor by Eastern, ranked in a tie
for fifth nationally in scoring defense. Senior forward
Jenn Kinney (Salem, NH) came off the bench to
score a game-high 15 points and grab six rebounds. Senior guard
Michele Boudreau (Readsboro, VT) had ten points
and Laudano came off the bench to total ten. Cirillo had nine
points and six rebounds off the bench as the Owls' reserves
outscored Eastern's non-starters, 34-9.
