KEENE, N.H. 11/30/10 –The Keene State College women's basketball team dropped a 85-44 non-conference game to top-ranked Amherst College at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

Keene State falls to 2-3. Amherst, which made consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament final four the past two years, remains undefeated, improving to 5-0.

Junior Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) had 16 points and sophomore Samantha Hemingway (Newport, N.H.) had a season-high 10 points and six rebounds to lead the Owls.

The Lord Jeffs broke the game open early with an 8-0 run that made it 26-9 after junior Kim Fiorentino (Holmdel, N.J.) fed senior Jaci Daigneault (Guilford, Conn.) for a lay-up at the 9:43 mark. Displaying good ball movement and taking advantage of 21 first half turnovers by the Owls, Amherst added to its lead.  Junior Shannon Finucane (Cortland, N.Y.), who finished with 18 first half points, including four three-pointers, scored eight straight points to put the Lord Jeffs up 41-19. Sophomore Jasmine Hardy (Meriden, N.H.) hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Amherst a 50-21 halftime lead.

Finucane, who hit eight of her 12 shots from the field, finished with a game high 21 points for the Lord Jeffs. Daigneault added 18 points and sophomore Marcia Voigt (Skillman, N.J.) chipped in with 11 points. Amherst connected on 14 of its 35 three-point attempts and hit nine of its 11 shots from the line.  

"They're no. 1 for a reason and they showed us what a no. 1 team plays like," said junior Meghan Farrell (Chester, Vt.), who finished with nine points and five rebounds. 

"They're solid up and down their line-up.  They just execute offensively and their defense is solid," said junior Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.). It's a learning experience.  We didn't drop our heads. We played the entire 40 minutes, which I'm proud about."

Keene State opens its Little East schedule on Saturday, hosting UMass-Boston.