KEENE, N.H 12/7/13 – The Keene State College women's basketball team dropped a 66-56 Little East Conference game to UMass-Boston at the Clark Athletic Center on Saturday.

The Owls (4-3, 1-1 LEC), who saw their three game winning streak come to an end, suffered their first conference loss of the season.  UMass-Boston improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in league play.

Keene State had a hard time defending UMB sophomore forward Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) down in the box.  She finished with a game high 27 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior forward Courtney Roberts (Sutton, Mass.) led a balanced Owl attack with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Classmate Christan Wojtas (Amherst, N.H.) scored 14 points, including four three-pointers, while sophomore point guard Kelsey Cognetta (Stamford, Conn.) had 11 points and a career high nine assists.

Trailing by as many as five points in the first half, the Owl rallied to a take a 31-30 halftime lead when Cognetta found sophomore Ryanne Williams (Norwell, Mass.) down low for a lay-up in the closing seconds of the half.

The Beacons went on a 10-2 run coming out of the break to go up 40-33 on a basket by Murphy.   UMB extended its lead to nine points 44-35 on a three-pointer by junior guard Lauren Perra (Taunton, Mass.) and free throw by junior center Kristen Morrison (North Reading, Mass.) at the 12:57 mark.

Keene State cut the Beacons' lead to three points (52-49) with 3:47 to play.  Cognetta made a steal and was fouled going into for a lay-up.  UMass-Boston answered with a 7-0 spurt to build its lead back up to 10 points (59-49) with 2:10 to go.  Breaking the Owls' press, Murphy made a three-point play on a lay-up and free throw shot.

UMB went 24-38 at the line (63%).  KSC once again struggled at the line, connecting on just seven of its 19 attempts (37%).  The Beacons won the battle of the boards 47-42.

Keene State is off until Dec. 31 when they play Bridgewater State in the Key Largo Classic in Florida.