KEENE, N.H. 2/23/10 - Senior guard Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.) scored 19 points and played a stellar defensive game with a career high six steals to lead the fourth seeded Keene State College women's basketball team to a 63-56 victory over fifth seed Rhode Island College in a Little East Conference quarterfinal tournament game played at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night. 

                The Owls (17-8), winners of four of their last five games, advance to the semifinals where they will play host and top seed Western Conn. State University in Danbury, Conn. on Friday (5:30 p.m.) WSCU (20-5) received a first-round bye. 

                Second-seed Eastern Conn. (17-8) will face third seed Southern Maine in the second semifinal game at Danbury at 7:30.  USM (18-7) defeated sixth seed UMass-Dartmouth (10-16) 64-54 in Tuesday's second quarterfinal game. 

                Sapp was the story for the Owls who took a 30-19 halftime lead.  She intercepted a cross court pass and went in for an uncontested lay-up to give the KSC an early 17-9 lead.  A conventional three-point play by Sapp, who had 11 first-half points, made it a nine point game (24-15) with 2:12 to go in the half.

                "I was able to get by my defender and get some points going to the basket," said Sapp.  "We struggled in the first half defensively, but in the second half we were getting our hands up and moving much better."

                Senior forward Jen Cleaveland (Newington, Conn.) also had a strong first half for the Owls with eight points and six rebounds. 

                Junior guard Lauren Harrington (Exeter, R.I.) led RIC with nine points. The Anchorwomen hit just one of their 10 three-point attempts in the half.

               Looking to get back into the game, RIC made several runs at the Owls throughout the second half.   The Anchorwomen scored the first five points of the half to cut the lead to six points (30-24).

               Trailing by 42-33 later in the half, RIC ran off six straight points to make it 42-39 following a three-point basket by senior guard Denise Scott (Yonkers, N.Y.) with 8:41 to play.

               The Owls answered with an 11-3 run to pull ahead by 11 points (53-42) on a breakaway lay-up by sophomore forward Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.), who took a lead pass from sophomore guard Meghan Farrell (Chester, Vt.) with 4:46 to go.

              RIC made a couple more runs in the last three minutes of play.  They cut the lead to four points 55-51 at the 2:31 on a three-pointer by senior guard Alice Mullen (Saunderstown, R.I.) and again 58-54 with 57 seconds to go on Mullen's fifth three-pointer of the game.

Free throws by Sapp and senior forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) in the closing minute enabled the Owls to hang on for the win.

           Senior guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) scored 11 points and Simmler and Cleaveland each finished with 10 points for KSC.  Cleaveland added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and fourth of her career.

         "They got some tough competitors. We knew that going in," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher about the Anchorwomen.  "We kept our composure and made the big play when we needed it.  I thought the seniors played pretty well collectively tonight and that was nice to see in their final home game."

          Mullen had 18 points for RIC, which falls to 16-10.  Scott scored 15 points and Harrington finished with 13 points.  Sophomore forward Rachel Riley (Coventry, R.I.) was held scoreless, but had a team high eight rebounds. 

          The Owls went to the line 31 times, making 21 of their attempts (70%) while RIC was 10 of 11 (91%).

          The two teams split their regular season games with each earning a home court win.