Worcester, Mass. 01/12/2012 – Hampered by a sluggish start, the Keene State College women's basketball team fell to Worcester State University in overtime 58-52, on Thursday afternoon at the Lancer Gymnasium. With approximately 500 local middle and high school students in attendance for "Math Madness", the Owls shot less than 22% from the floor in the loss to the Lancers.

After scoring only 17 points in the first half, KSC woke up and outscored the Lancers 32-23 in the second half to force overtime. Trailing by as many as nine in the second stanza, the Owls went on an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer from senior guard Niki Cote (Ashford, Conn.) to give Keene State their first lead at 41-39 with just 4:25 to play.

Battling back-and-forth, Keene State took a two-point lead on a pair of free-throws with 1:32 left to make it 49-47 Keene State. WSU sophomore guard Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, Mass.) hit a jumper in the lane with 47 seconds left to force the overtime.

In the OT, Worcester State never relinquished the lead, outscoring the Owls 9-3 in the period en-route to the 58-52 overtime victory.

Early in the first half, the Lancers jumped out to an early 10-point advantage on a three-ball from junior center Meghan O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) at the 13:40 mark to go ahead 13-3. KSC continued to struggle offensively, as WSU would take a 14 point lead on a layup by junior guard Kara Rogers (Lowell, Mass.) with 7:46 left in the first half.

Senior forward Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) would give the Owls some life right before the half, scoring an old-fashioned three-point play on a layup and a free-throw with just 28 seconds remaining. But WSU would steal the momentum going into the half, as Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, Mass.) would hit a layup with no time left on the clock to give WSU the 26-17 advantage at the break.

Leading the way for the Owls, Cirillo finished with a monster double-double of 23 points and tying her career-high by pulling down 17 rebounds.  Cirillo now has 946 career points and inches towards the 1,000 point-plateau. Senior guard Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) finished the contest with 12 points, while junior forward Siobhan Carnell (Quincy, Mass.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.

Charette, the Lancer's leading scorer, finished the contest with 16 points and 15 rebounds in the win. Freshman forward Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, Mass.) had 11 points and eight boards, while Rogers finished with 10 points for WSU.

The Owls outrebounded the Lancers 47-38 on the contest, but shot only 21 percent (13-of-60) from the field, while WSU shot 37 percent (18-of-49) for the game.

Keene State returns to action this Saturday, in a key Little East Conference matchup against Rhode Island College at 1 p.m. at Spaulding Gymnasium.