DANBURY, Conn. – Freshman Aryanna Murray scored a rookie season-high 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds, just missing out on her first career double-double, as the Keene State College women's basketball team was in command for the second consecutive day against Western Connecticut State University, winning 55-46 in Little East Conference action Sunday afternoon at Feldman Arena.

Records

• Keene State:  7-12, 4-8 LEC
• Western Connecticut:  6-14, 1-10 LEC

How It Happened
Murray continued her recent surge by scoring over half of her team's points today, and now has tallied 75 over her past five games, increasing her points per game average to 10.1 in her seventh double-figure scoring effort of the season.  The guard from Nashua, N.H. and Nashua South High School scored 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor in the first half alone, just three fewer than Western Connecticut had as a team, as the Owls raced out to a 35-21 halftime advantage, assisting on eight of their 13 made field goals in a 43 percent shooting performance.  Murray put KSC up 3-2 two minutes into the game with an old-fashioned three-point play and the Owls led for the rest of the way, later building their advantage to 15-8 with 2:25 to go in the first following a three from Elizabeth Gonyea and jumper by Murray on consecutive possessions.  WestConn briefly got within two early in the second after two Nicole Vivian baskets sandwiching the quarter break, but Keene State ran off 11 consecutive points in 2:31, making 4-of-6 shots from the field and 3-of-4 from long range in the process, to take a 26-13 lead with 6:05 left in the opening half.  Michelle LaBonte buried a pair of triples in that stretch, Murray added another, and Hailey Derosia also scored – her basket started the surge – in that stretch to give the Owls a comfortable lead.  Western hung around, chipping their deficit back to six (27-21) by scoring eight of the next nine, but who else, Murray hit back with a three-point play that kickstarted an 8-0 burst over the final 3:03 of the half as they carried a 35-21 lead into the locker room.  Murray and LaBonte outscored WCSU on their own, 24-21, in the opening 20 minutes.

Kenzie Durnford, who had a strong performance with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and 12 rebounds, began the third quarter with a layup to put the Owls up a game-high 16 points, and KSC's lead never dipped below 10 in the period despite their offense cooling off a fair amount.  Murray's jumper at the 7:38 mark made it a 39-24 game, and after WestConn got within 42-32 with 2:19 left in the quarter, Brianna Metellus and Rylee Burgess scored inside on consecutive trips to push the lead back to 14 again, 46-32.  Carissa Miller canned a jumper with 8:59 to go in the fourth to keep the Owl lead at 14 (48-34), and despite just seven points in the rest of the game, KSC was never significantly threatened down the stretch.  Western got within nine at the 4:32 mark on Gabrielle Franks' jumper, but Miller found Murray a minute later to make it 50-39, and by the time WestConn got within seven (50-43) with 56 seconds remaining, Murray and Durnford each went 2-for-2 at the free throw line to push the lead back to 11.  KSC limited WCSU to a 19-for-64 effort from the field in the game, including just 4-for-19 (21 percent) in the final 10 minutes, as they held their sixth consecutive opponent under a 40 percent shooting mark.  The Owls have now won in four of their last six visits to Feldman Arena.  They had not traveled to Danbury since January 22, 2020 after WCSU cancelled their entire season last year.

Murray's previous career-high came on November 23 when she scored 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep against Worcester State University. 

Vivian paced Western with 17 points, but needed 23 shots from the floor to reach that total, and no other player from the hosts reached double-figures.  Ashley Rilley had eight points (4-9 FG) and five boards, while Franks added 10 rebounds and four points.  WCSU was outrebounded 45-40, including 31-18 in the second half, as they suffered their 12th consecutive loss.

Inside the Paint

• Murray, a guard, has grabbed 28 rebounds over her last four games.
• Today marked Keene State's first win when shooting less than 40 percent this season.  They were 0-9 previously when not reaching that mark.
• The Owls have won three of four and eight of the last 12 in the series.  Their victory today – and both this weekend – make it far less likely that they will have to play in the Little East Conference tournament play-in game on Monday, February 21.  KSC is currently in seventh place in the league standings, two and half games ahead of Western who they swept, and now just two games behind fourth-place UMass-Boston (5-5).  Castleton, in sixth, is a half-game ahead of the Owls.  Keene State still has three games remaining against those two teams.

Up Next

• KSC will travel to surging University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (14-5, 8-2 LEC), winners of six straight, on Wednesday, February 9 for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off.  The Corsairs escaped 46-45 on a Meagan Donovan three with five seconds left in Keene on January 15.  The Owls had plenty of chances down the stretch at the free throw line and with a possible game-winner in the closing seconds, but could not capitalize.
• WestConn hosts Castleton University (10-8, 3-6 LEC) on Saturday, February 12 at 2:00 p.m.  The Spartans have lost four of six, all by double-figures.