PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Keene State College women's basketball team was held to five field goals in the first half and six in the second as they suffered a 72-30 loss to conference-leading Rhode Island College in a Saturday afternoon Little East Conference contest at The Murray Center.

Records

• Keene State:  4-13, 2-9 LEC
• Rhode Island College:  18-2, 11-0 LEC

How It Happened
The Owls stopped a seven-game losing streak with a blowout victory at Plymouth State University on the Wednesday night, but today were on the other end as they lost to the Anchorwomen for the 11th consecutive time in the series.  KSC never led in the game, and after making it 6-3 on a Valerie Luizzi three-pointer 1:55 in, were outscored 20-2 over the next seven minutes and never recovered.  Rhode Island College led 26-7 after one, making 10-of-23 (43 percent) from the floor (one fewer field goal than the Owls had in the entire game) and 3-of-8 from long-range.  It got no better in the second quarter, as KSC hit just 2-for-13 from the floor and trailed 44-12 at halftime.  The Owls got into double-digits with 4:03 left in the second, but at that point were trailing by 30.  RIC shot 44 percent in the opening 20 minutes and also outrebounded KSC 29-15, grabbing nine offensive rebounds (they missed 20 field goals in the half).

Keene State never made any dent in the deficit out of the locker room, with Rhode Island College starting the half on an 8-2 run over the first five minutes.  They led 57-20 after three, and then kept expanding on the lead in the fourth.  The Anchorwomen played 11 different players over the final 20 minutes, with all of them getting into the scoring column.  The hosts shot 43 percent (9-for-21) in the half and 25-for-57 (44 percent) for the game.  KSC, meanwhile, finished with a season-low 19 percent shooting mark (11-for-54), made 3-for-14 from three-point land (21 percent) and 5-of-10 at the foul line (50 percent).  The Owls were also decimated on the boards 58-30, with Izabelle Booth, Angelina Nardolillo, and Jeniyah Jones each grabbing nine.  The Anchorwomen had 17 offensive rebounds as a team.  It was overall a continuation from the first meeting in December Keene, when RIC controlled the glass 45-30 in a 56-42 win.  However, the Owls hung around that day because they limited the Anchorwomen to just 12 paint points but were burned by 5-for-10 three-point shooting from Antonia Corsinetti.

Rylee Burgess was the Owls' high scorer with seven points on 3-for-6 shooting.  She had five rebounds.  Valerie Luizzi (2-7 3-PT) had six.

Neleesha Meunier, a reserve for RIC who played 18 minutes, led her team with 11 points (4-6 FG, 3-4 FT).  Corsinetti had nine points, making 3-of-5 from distance this time around.  Claire Greene finished with nine points (3-8 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT) as the Anchorwomen won their 17th straight since being soundly beaten by nationally-ranked Smith College on the road and Babson College at home in mid-November.

Inside the Paint

• Burgess is shooting 51 percent (43-for-84) from the floor on the season and 50.6 percent over her 51-game career (41 starts) that is in her third season.
• The minus-28 on the glass is KSC's most one-sided result against them since February 17, 2018 when the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth piled up a 61-27 (plus-34) gap in a 75-48 Corsair win.
• The Owls are three games out in the loss column of the final LEC playoff spot, and do not hold the tiebreaker over sixth-place University of Massachusetts-Boston (currently 0-1 against) or seventh-place University of Southern Maine (were swept by in season series).
• Keene State's last win in the series came on February 3, 2018, a 62-50 final in Keene.  At that point, it was the Owls' eighth win in nine tries in the series.  Now, in the past 11 games, KSC has been outscored on average 59.8 to 42.3, with today being the most lopsided defeat in series history since the teams began meeting as conference opponents in 1997.

Up Next

• The Owls host Eastern Connecticut State University (16-4, 10-1 LEC) on Wednesday, February 1 at 5:30 p.m.  KSC has not won in that series since beating the Warriors in the 2017 Little East Conference championship game on the road, and has not come out with a victory at home over ECSU since February of 2010.  Eastern won 63-47 in Willimantic earlier in January.
• Rhode Island College, who has won the last two LEC tournaments, goes to Western Connecticut State University (12-6, 5-5 LEC) on the same night (5:30 p.m.).  The Wolves have lost three of four and five of seven.