KEENE, N.H. 2/29/12 – The Keene State College women's basketball team began its quest for the 2012 ECAC New England Championship with a 58-36 quarterfinal victory over Regis College at Spaulding Gym on Wednesday night.

The top seeded Owls (18-9) advance to the semifinals where they will face fourth seed Colby-Sawyer College. Colby-Sawyer moved on with a 69-66 victory over fifth seed Suffolk University.

In other first-round action, second seed Smith defeated seventh seed Rivier 56-31.  The game between third seed Endicott and sixth seed Clark was postponed due to the storm and will be played on Thursday.  Both semifinal games will be played at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.  Keene State will take on Colby-Sawyer in the first game at 1 p.m. and Smith will go up against the winner between Endicott and Clark at 3 p.m.  The championship game will be played at the highest remaining seed on Sunday.  If KSC reaches the finals, the game will be played at 2 p.m.

Senior Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) led a balanced Owl offense with a game high 14 points.  Senior Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and junior Siobhan Carnell (Quincy, Mass.) each finished with eight points.

Senior Stephanie Crawford (Rockland, Mass.) scored seven points and freshman Emilee Marro (Bedford, N.H.) pulled down a game high nine rebounds for the eigth seeded Pride, who finish their season with a 21-6 record. 

Keene State jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.  Leading 8-6, the Owls went on a 16-2 run to go up 24-8 at the 9:46 mark of the first half.  Laudano had 11 points, including three baskets from behind the arc during the spurt.  "We came out with a lot of fire and energy," said Laudano. "We wanted to show Regis that we deserved to be the No. 1 seed.  The seniors want to go out with a championship on our home court."

Regis struggled to get going in the first half, shooting just 20% (4-20) from the field and committing 14 turnovers. 

The Owls, who led 29-12 at the half, continued their strong play coming out of the break.  Freshman Sarah Phelan (Northbridge, Mass.) hit a lay-up and a put-back in consecutive trips down the floor, and Laudano knocked down her fourth three-pointer of the game to push the lead up to 45-19 with 9:27 to play.  "I'm sure the experience of playing in a post-season tournament will help me and the rest of the freshmen down the road," said Phelan, who had six points and a team high eight rebounds. "With several seniors leaving, we're going to have to step up next season."

KSC shot 35% (25-72) from the field. Both teams had trouble from behind the arc.  The Owls hit just five of 22 attempts (23%) while the Pride connected on just one of its 12 attempts (8%).  KSC had a slim 47-43 advantage on the boards.

Keene State is making its sixth trip to the ECAC tournament.  They won the championship in 2010.