PROVIDENCE, R.I.  2/18/12 – The Keene State College women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a 62-54 loss to Rhode Island College in a Little East Conference game played at the Murray Center in Providence on Saturday. 

            The Owls (16-8, 9-5 LEC) will be the third seed in the LEC tournament and host sixth seed UMass-Boston (8-17, 4-10) in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.).

            The Owls didn't go down without a fight, erasing a large deficit against the Anchorwomen (22-3, 13-1 LEC), who will be the top-seed in the tournament and receive a first-round bye.

            Keene State fell behind early, trailing by as many as 23 points (42-19) late in the first half.  RIC, which led 44-24 at the half, used a stifling defense and three-point shooting to pull away from the Owls.  Senior Stephanie Coro (North Providence, R.I.) scored 16 of her game high 20 points in the first half, knocking down fourth three-pointer.  The Anchorwomen were 10-17 (59%) from behind the arc in the half. 

            RIC senior Rachel Riley (Coventry, R.I.), who finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, pulled down her 1,000th career rebound late in the half.  She becomes the third RIC player to finish her career with 1,000 point and 1,000 rebounds. 

            Keene State scored the first six points out of the break and cut the lead to eight points (51-43) on a lay-up by freshman Courtney Roberts (Sutton, Mass.).  Five straight points by freshman Nikki Stacy (Uxbridge, Mass.) and a couple of free throws by Roberts made it a two point game (54-52) with 5:15 to play.

            Riley hit a lay-up and junior Ashley O'Dell (Lincoln, R.I.) connected on a three-pointer off the glass to push the Anchorwomen's lead back up to seven points (59-52) with 3:11 to play.  RIC sealed the win with Coro and senior Cynthia Gaudet (Coventry, R.I.) hitting free throws down the stretch.

            KSC Coach Keith Boucher was pleased with his teams' comeback effort and limiting RIC to just 18 second half points.  "I thought that was probably our best half of basketball because of the level of competition that we played," said Boucher.  "The kids dug in during the second half and never gave up.  The effort was phenomenal today."

            Senior Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) led the Owls with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Junior Siobhan Carnell (Quincy, Mass.) netted nine points and senior Meghan Farrell (Chester, Vt.) had a fine overall game eight points, five assists and four assists. 

            Gaudet and O'Dell finished in double figures for RIC with 11 point each.

            KSC shot 33% (20-61) from the field, hit five of its 16 three-point attempts (31%) and was nine of 10 from the line.  The Anchorwomen shot 38% from the field (21-55) and cooled off behind the arc, hitting just 2-9 of their attempts in the second half.

            Keene State out-rebounded RIC 44-32.

            The Owls lost to RIC 77-46 earlier in the season at Spaulding Gym.