KEENE, N.H. 1/13/11 – Playing its first home game in over a month, Keene State College defeated Worcester State College 61-46 in a non-conference women's basketball game at Spaulding Gym on Thursday night.

With the victory, Keene State (5-8) ended a two-game skid.  Worcester State (8-6) saw its three game winning streak come to an end.

"When you start the New Year with four road games it's nice to get back on your home court," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher.  "A young team tends to play a lot better at home than on the road."  

Timely shooting and solid defense enabled the Owls to jump out to an early lead they never would relinquish. KSC went up 17-8 after junior Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) hit junior Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) for a backdoor lay-up at the 11:04 mark.  

That basket triggered a 21-5 run to end the half by the Owls.  Sophomore Sionhan Carnell (Quincy, Mass.) who had 11 first half points, hit a lay-up in the final minute of the half to send KSC to the locker room with a 38-13 lead. WSC hurt itself with 19 first half turnovers.

"I liked our focus and intensity in the first half," Boucher said.  "In the second half we got careless with the ball and we can't do that.  We have a small margin of error."

After a runner off the glass by Laudano made it 42-19, WSU started cutting into the Owls lead in the second half.  The Lancers got their deficit down to 12 points (46-34) on a put-back basket by junior Molly Hein (Hudson, N.H.) with 9:50 to play.

Cirillo put the game away for the Owls.  After making a conventional three point play, she made a steal and hit a lay-up to give KSC a 53-36 lead with 6:15 to go. Later in the half, sophomore Samantha Hemingway (Newport, N.H.), who had five points and three rebounds, made a spinning left-handed lay-up in the lane to make it 57-41 with 3:51 to play.  "We looked to move the ball around a little more," said Cirillo.  "We used screens and that set us up for some good shots."

Cirillo, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and Carnell, who had 14 points, were the scoring stars for the Owls. Laudano, who chipped in with nine points, knocked down a pair of three-pointers.

Sophomore Meaghan O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) and junior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) each finished with 10 points for the Lancers.  Charette had a team-high five rebounds.

Both teams return to conference play on Saturday.  Keene State hosts UMass-Dartmouth in Little East action and Worcester State returns home for a MASCAC game against Framingham State. "We need to carry this over to Saturday because UMass-Dartmouth is in the same boat we are," said Boucher.  "We're both looking for our first LEC wins and when you play conference games, everything is ratcheted up two or three notches."