Box Score KEENE, N.H. - The Keene State College women's basketball team advanced to their first LEC tournament semifinals since the 2011-2012 season with their 63-46 quarterfinal win against Southern Maine Tuesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.
The Owls (17-9) move on to the semifinals where they will face top-seed and tournament host Eastern Connecticut on Saturday at 5:00 p.m., who advanced with their 77-37 win over Plymouth State. Southern Maine concludes their season with a 12-14 record.
KSC jumped out to a 13-6 lead powered by Christan Wojtas' nine points, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc.
Leading by three (13-10) with 12:08 in the first half, the Owls went on a 13-3 run over the next 9:20 to take a 26-13 advantage, their largest lead of the first half.
Sarah Kober's old fashion three-point play four minutes into the second half gave the home team their largest lead of the game to that point, 39-22.
With 9:02 left in the game, the Huskies went on a 9-0 run on six-straight points from Ella Ramonas, who brought her team within nine, 41-50 at 4:36.
Kober's second three-point play of the night stoped any hope of a USM comeback, as the Owls converted free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
Wojtas led the Owls with 18 points on six 3-pointers to go with five rebounds and two assists. Kelsey Cognetta added 16 points, six assists was perfect from the free throw line (8-for-8), while Sarah Kober finished in double figures with 12 points and five rebounds.
KSC had another impressive shooting performance as they went 43.8 percent (21-for-48) from the field, 31.8 percent (7-for-22) from behind the arc and 93.3 percent (14-for-15) from the charity stripe.
The Huskies were paced by Ramonas' team-high 11 points and seven rebounds, while Megan Pelletier came off the bench to score nine and pull down six boards. Rebecca Knight added eight points, four rebounds and two assists. Gretchen Anderson and Stephanie Gallagher each finished with seven points.
USM struggled from the field shooting 32.0 percent (16-for-50) and only managed to connect on one 3-pointer (1-for-11), while shooting just 59.1 percent (13-for-22) from the free-throw line.
This was Keene State's first win against Southern Maine in tournament play as the Owls went winless in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
