PROVIDENCE, RI 2/24/12 – In a wild, back-and-forth contest, the number two seeded Southern Maine Huskies defeated the third seed, Keene State in the Little East Conference Tournament Semifinals, 60-52, on Friday night at the Murray Center on the campus of Rhode Island College.

Also earning a victory early on Friday night, the top seeded Rhode Island College Anchorwomen dropped the Western Conn. State University Colonials 67-47, to secure their spot in the Little East Conference Championship game, which will take place on Saturday at 4 p.m.

KSC senior forward Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) led all scorers with 22 points in the game. Freshman guard Rachel Brucks (Suwanee, Georgia) was the only other Owl to finish with double-digits, tying her career-high with 11 points.

USM, using a more balanced scoring attack, finished the contest with three players with 15 or more points. Senior forward Courtney Cochran (Waite, Maine) finished with a 17 point, 13 rebound double-double to lead the Huskies. Senior Nicole Garland's (Portland, Maine) and junior Haley Jordan (Falmouth, Maine) finished with 16 and 15 points respectively, in the victory.

The Owls (17-9) created opportunities with their defense early on in the contest, playing zone to try and contain the Southern Maine (21-5) offensive attack.

KSC lead by as many as three on two occasions, as senior point-guard Niki Cote (Ashford, Conn.) hit a jumper to make it 8-5 Owls with 15:22 remaining in the half. Keene State would again take a three-point advantage in the first half when Cirillo hit a tough layup in the paint plus the free throw, to make it 17-14 KSC with just over five minutes remaining.

Southern Main would then find their groove, as the Huskies went on an 11-1 run, capped by Garland's three-pointer with 1:07 left in the first half to make it 25-18 USM.

With four seconds left, the Owls took an offensive foul and raced up court as Cirillo would hit a buzzer-beating three to make it 25-22 at the halftime break.

Cochran lived at the free throw line in the first half, making nine-of-10 attempts and scoring 13 points to lead all scorers in the first stanza.

Early in the second half, Garland gave the Huskies an early lead, hitting back-to-back three balls and dishing to senior guard Renee Nicholas (Sebago, Maine) for a driving layup to give USM the 33-22 lead.

KSC senior forward Meghan Farrell (Chester, VT) would give the Owls their first bucket of the half with 17:10 remaining, on a baseline jumper to make it 33-24.

After a pair of Cochran free-throws, KSC would go on an 11-0 run, with Brucks starting the run with a three-pointer, and ending it with a fast-break jump-shot to even the contest at 35-35 with 12:28 remaining.

Southern Maine would answer back with a run of their own, outscoring the Owls 14-5 over the next 5:10, finished by a steal and a fast-break layup by Jordan to make it 49-40.

Owl senior guard Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) would answer back, with a pair of shots from beyond-the-arc, with the later happening with 3:57 remaining, to cut into Southern Maine's lead at 53-46.

After that the Owls would go cold, as Cirillo's layup and a pair of free-throws is all they could manage to score, as USM pulled away for a 59-52 victory.

The Owls shot just 33% from the field in the game (19-of-59), while Southern Maine was just under 40% (16-of-41) in the victory. The Huskies also had a strong advantage on the glass, out-rebounding the Owls 42-29.

Keene State will await a possible ECAC Tournament bid to be announced Monday afternoon.