KEENE N.H. 2/16/12 - The Keene State College women's basketball team defeated the Lasell College Lasers 58-27, Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium. In holding the Lasers to 27 points, the Owls matched the lowest total allowed since December 9, 1998 when Keene State defeated Rivier College 139-27.

With the victory the Owls improve to 16-7 and Lasell falls to 4-20 on the season.

Before the start of the non-conference contest, the women's basketball program said farewell to their senior class of Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.), Niki Cote (Ashford, Conn.), Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) and Meghan Farrell (Chester, VT).

"I love all of them," said head coach Keith Boucher about his seniors, "They all bring something different."

The game got out to a slow start for both teams until Lasell freshman Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) found the bottom of the net at the 16:04 mark of the first half. Chappell finished the game with team highs in points with nine and rebounds with six.

The Owls got their offense going on a pair of three-pointers by freshman Nikki Stacy (Uxbridge, Mass.) and consecutive layups by freshman forward Courtney Roberts (Sutton, Mass.) at 2:52 and 1:37 remaining in the half.

In the second half the Owls continued to control the game at both ends of the floor.

"We've been struggling shooting as a team so we had to step it up on defense," said Cirillo who finished the night with 13 points and 8 rebounds. "Help defense is another reason why we were successful."

"I think the defense helped pick up our team tonight, and that's good going into a game against RIC," added Farrell, who had 4 points and 6 boards on the night.

The Owls opened up the second half on a 15-3 run in the first 4:25. Laudano scored seven of her nine points in the stretch, to make it 40-9 KSC.

"It was nice to see Sara shoot the ball well, she always plays hard," said Boucher.

The Owls opened it up to their biggest lead of the night at 37 points, on a pair of free throws by Stacy at the 10:53 mark. The closest the Lasers would get, would be a buzzer beating layup by junior forward Kim Archibald (Lewiston, Maine) to account for the 58-27 final.

After the game, all four seniors said they will remember those they played with, and the program they played in. "This is my family to me, and they've taken me under their wing," said Cote. "And I didn't find that at my old school (Eastern Conn.)."

Keene State outshot the Lasers on the floor, hitting 39.7% to Lasell's 26.2%. The Owls also shot 9-of-10 from the charity stripe while Lasell made 5-of-14 (35.7%) from the line.

The Owls play their final game of the regular season on the road Saturday at 1 pm, at Rhode Island College. "Going to RIC we know it's going to be a tough game, and we just have to play like we know how to," said Farrell.

Lasell visits Norwich University on Saturday to wrap up its regular season.

(Release Courtesy Kevin Butler)