KEENE, N.H. 2/9/10 - The Keene State College women's basketball team used a double-double 21 point and 10 rebound performance by senior forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) and a tough-swarming defense  to post a 59-56 Little East Conference win over Eastern Conn. State University at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

Senior guard Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.), who scored 13 points, and senior forward Jen Cleaveland (Newington, Conn.), who finished with nine points and a season- high 11 rebounds, also had strong games for the Owls.  

 Keene State improves to 14-7 (6-5 LEC).  Eastern Conn. falls to 15-7 (8-3 LEC). Both teams remain in their same spots in the LEC standing; the Owls in fifth and the Warriors in second place. The Owls had dropped their last six games to Eastern, including a 68-52 setback earlier this season in Willimantic. It was just the fourth time KSC has defeated the Warriors in 13 home contests.

"They kids played really hard," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher.   "I thought we had a pretty decent game plan going in and we did a good job executing it." 

"We were very aggressive right from the start," said Simmler.  "We pushed the ball up the court and got better looks."

Keene State had things going its way in the early going, taking a 20-7 lead on a reverse lay-up by Simmler at the 9:08 mark. The Owls opened up a 15 point lead on a basket by sophomore guard Meghan Farrell (Chester, Vt.) with 3:34 to go in the half and went to the locker room with a 32-22 lead.

The Warriors scored the first seven points of the second half to cut the Owls lead to three points (32-29) on a pair of free throws by junior guard Jessica Moriarty (East Haven, Conn.).

KSC came back to grab a 49-40 lead on a drive by Sapp with 7:43 to play.  The Warriors cut the Owls lead to five points (51-47) on a conventional three-point play by freshman forward Tanisha Carter (East Hartford, Conn.) with 2:55 to go. 

Sophomore forward Courtney Cirilo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) had a key offensive rebound and Sapp followed with a lay-up to push the Owls lead to 55-47 with 1:32 to play.  "I was just going for the ball. I didn't want to give them a chance to comeback," said Cirillo, who finished with eight points and five rebound.  "We needed this win.  We want to finish the season strong."

 The Warriors used the clock to narrow the gap in the closing seconds, but KSC was able to hang on for the win.

Junior guard Brittany Whiteley (Windsor Locks, Conn.) led the Warriors with 15 points.  Carter added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Moriarty finished with 10 points. Sophomore center Piper Chapman also chipped in with nine rebounds.  ECSU struggled behind the arc hitting just three of 21 attempts.

Boucher used just seven players in the game. Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.), the Owls' leading scorer, was held to three points.

Both teams have LEC games on Saturday.  Keene State is at Western Conn. and the Warriors return home to face UMass-Dartmouth.