WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - Junior forward Amanda Pierlioni (Plainville) had a game and career-high high 25 points and sank a career-high five three-point field goals and freshman forward Tanisha Carter (East Hartford) helped the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball dominate the boards with 12 rebounds as the Warriors led from start to finish to defeat Keene State College, 68-52, Tuesday night in a Little East Conference game at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Eastern (12-3, 6-0 little east) maintains a share of the top spot in the conference with Western Connecticut State University, which edged Rhode Island College, 83-79, Tuesday night at Danbury. The Warriors have won nine straight games this year and their last 17 regular-season conference games dating back to last January 13. Keene State (10-5, 3-3 little east), the pre-season favorite to capture its first LEC crown, drops into a two-way tie for fourth place in the conference with Plymouth State University. The Owls had won four of five entering the game.

The victory was the sixth straight for Eastern over Keene.

Pierlioni sparked Eastern to a nine-point, 27-18, halftime lead by scoring 13 points in the first half. Eastern's led never dipped below double figures after junior guard Brittany Whiteley's (Windsor Locks) jumper made it 30-20 four minutes into the second half. Pierlioni dropped in 12 second-half points and grabbed seven of her ten rebounds in the second half. She did not turn the ball over in 36 minutes in the game.

Carter, a three-time conference Rookie-of-the-Week, did not score in the first half but had seven of her  12 rebounds over the first 20 minutes. Eastern outrebounded the visitors, 48-30, with freshman Lauren Kelleher (Dartmouth, MA), Whiteley and sophomore Piper Chapman (Portsmouth, RI) combining for 16 boards.

Last year's conference Defensive Player-of-the-Year, junior guard Jessica Moriarty (East  Haven) stymied conference scoring leader Kristin Degou. (Newburyport, MA). Averaging  15.7 points per game, Degou managed only two on 1-for-8 shooting from the floor. A senior guard, Degou picked up two early fouls in the game and was whistled for her third with 4.9 seconds left in the first half trying to stop Moriarty's drive to the basket. Degou's only basket came with 3:02 left in the game on her fifth shot with her team trailing by 13. She played only 28 minutes. Moriarty finished witih nine points and four rebounds.

Sophomore guard Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks) came off the bench to record a team-high 16 points for Keene. The only Keene player with more than eight points, Cirillo scored 12 of her points in the second half, sinking six of eight free throws.

Keene State returns home to face UMass-Boston on  Saturday at 1 p.m.

(Courtesy ECSU Sports Information)