BOSTON, Mass. – Tied at 46 after three quarters, the Keene State College women's basketball team surrendered the first nine points of the fourth quarter and never recovered, falling to UMass-Boston 65-56 in a Little East Conference matchup Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

Records

• Keene State:  5-13, 4-5 LEC
• UMass-Boston:  15-3, 6-3 LEC

How It Happened

KSC recovered from a very slow start to take the lead in the third quarter, but the Beacons' aforementioned run was enough to prevent the Owls from winning a third straight.  Hailey Derosia notched a new career-high, as she made 9-of-17 shots to score 20 points while also adding seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.  No other Owl reached double-figures, as KSC's next highest scorer was Kenzie Bennett with eight (2-3 3-PT).  Jalani Jackson paced UMass-Boston with 25 points (7-13 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 8-9 FT), and Joie Grassi finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Beacons won for the third straight time and sixth in the past seven.

After Jordyn Burke scored the opening basket of the contest on Keene State's first possession, the Owls then did not score again until the 3:53 mark of the first quarter as UMass-Boston scored 13 points in a row and led by double-digits (13-2).  A triple by Leah Pelkey stopped KSC's drought, and Arianna Hebert followed with a jumper to make it a six-point game, but the Owls slid back down again and trailed 18-8 through one.  The Beacons got baskets from Jackson and Tahjai Mazyck on consecutive possessions for a 22-11 lead early in the second quarter and still were up 28-18 with 3:18 to go, but KSC surged from there to get right back in the game.  A basket from Lilly Shlimon and then four points in a row by Derosia made it 28-24 with just under a minute left before the break, and Bennett made a triple on KSC's next possession to make it a one-point game (28-27) with 13 seconds on the clock.  Jackson stopped Keene State's 9-0 run with a pair of free throws in the final seconds that gave UMass-Boston a 30-27 halftime edge.

Another Owl surge highlighted the beginning of the second half, as Tamra Gonyea, Jenny Freedman and Burke all scored in the opening 2:18 to give Keene State a 33-30 lead, their first since it was 2-0.  The remainder of the third quarter was extremely close, with the lead changing hands five times and the period ending with the score even at 46.  Derosia, who scored eight of her 20 points in the third, put KSC up 37-36 at the 5:55 mark and again by two (41-39) a little over two minutes later.  Shlimon buried a triple to put the Owls up 44-41 with 1:09 on the clock, but the Beacons scored five quick points to go in front before Samantha Adamson tied the game at 46 after three.  The opening five minutes of the final quarter wound up deciding the game, as UMass-Boston tallied the first nine points while KSC did not score until nearly half the quarter had elapsed.  Kaylee Haynes' three put the home team up 51-46 at the 7:55 mark, and layups from Geanna Williams and Grassi followed.  Derosia made it a seven-point game (57-50) with a little over three minutes to go, and consecutive layups by her and Burke trimmed the Owl deficit to 59-54 with still over 90 seconds left, but Williams answered with a basket and KSC missed two chances on their next trip, sealing the Beacons' win.

Keene State shot 54 percent (17-of-32) in the middle two quarters, including 4-of-7 from three, while outscoring UMB 38-28, but connected on just 7-of-28 otherwise, including 4-of-17 in the final 10 minutes.

Inside the Paint

• Derosia is averaging 16.3 points over the past three games, shooting 50 percent (20-for-40) overall and 8-of-9 from the foul line in that span.
• UMass-Boston shot 42 percent (20-for-48) and Keene State 40 percent (24-of-60) overall, but the Owls were outscored 17-3 from the foul line and 24-15 from behind the arc.  KSC made 5-of-14 triples and 3-of-8 foul shots, while UMB was 8-of-19 and 17-of-25, respectively.
• KSC split the season series with the Beacons, winning 66-49 in Keene in December, but has lost in their last three trips to Boston since a 66-55 win on January 28, 2017.

Up Next

• Keene State hosts Castleton University (10-8, 5-4 LEC) on Wednesday, January 29.  Tip-off is at 5:30 pm.
• UMass-Boston goes to the University of Southern Maine (9-9, 4-5 LEC) on the same night.