KEENE,N.H. 1/14/14- The Keene State College women's basketball team fell behind early and never recovered, dropping a 53-39 Little East Conference game to Western Conn. State University at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.  It was WCSU Coach Kimberly Rybczyk's 300th career victory.

The Owls, who have lost their last two league games, fall to 8-5 (1-3 LEC). Western Conn. (8-5, 3-1 LEC) has won four straight games.

Freshman Jovan Kingwood (Norwalk, Conn.) came off the bench to lead the Owls in scoring with 10 points.  Classmate Stephanie D'Annolfo (Tyngsborough, Mass.) had nine points while freshman Amanda Petrow (Methuen, Mass.) finished with a team high eight rebounds.  

Keene State had a tough time putting the ball in the basket, hitting 16 of 61 shots (26%), missing all 12 of its three-point shots and going 7-12 (58%) from the line. "Granted we didn't shoot the ball well, but the first 10 minutes of the game we didn't mathc their intensity. They came out aggressively and we backed down," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher.  "And then when we started to score, we didn't play defense.  When you're behind, you got to stop and score.  You just can't score.  That does you no good."  

Senior Sciarra Brandt (Thomaston, Conn.) notched a double-double with 11 point and a game high 13 rebounds and  freshman Colleen Cosker (East Hartford, Conn.) scored a game high 12 points to lead Western Conn.   

Struggling to get untracked in the early going, Keene State trailed 12-0 after a shot clock beating three-pointer by Cosker.  The Owls didn't get their first basket until seven minutes into the game when Carly Kiernan (Topsfield, Mass.) hit a put-back lay-up.

Going to its bench, KSC responded with a 12-4 run, getting to within two points (16-14) on a pick-and-roll lay-up by Petrow  at the 6:11 mark.  The Colonials answered with a 12-2 run of their own, going up 28-16 after a pair of free throws by Brandt with 1:35 to play in the half.

KSC, which hit just nine of its 29 shots (31%) from the field and missed all six of its three-pointers, trailed 30-18 at halftime.  

Changing its starting line-up in the second half, KSC outscored Western Conn. 6-1 out of the break to make it a seven point game (31-24).  The Colonials pushed it lead back up to 15 points (39-24) on a three-pointer by freshman Maggie Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) at the 13:07 mark of the half.

The Owls tried to get back in the game, closing the deficit down to 11 points (41-30) on a couple of free throws by Kingwood at the 10:50 mark, but couldn't get any closer.

Keene State is at UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday (1 p.m.).