KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's basketball team erased a nine-point deficit in the final 3:16 to seemingly force overtime, but Western Connecticut State University junior guard Nicole Vivian banked in a buzzer-beating three to give the Wolves a 43-40 Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  3-8, 1-4 LEC
• Western Connecticut:  10-1, 3-0 LEC

Stephanie D'Annolfo Owls Media Network Halftime Show Interview
Postgame Interview (Coach Boucher)

How It Happened
The Owls showed fight late, forcing just their second tie of the second half on a Valerie Luizzi layup that made it 40-40 with 3.7 seconds left, but ultimately could not overcome a 14-point first half or a 29 percent shooting performance from the field as they dropped their third straight, a span in which they have twice been limited to 42 points or less.  It was a turnover-prone game, with KSC committing 25, including 15 in a first half where they entered the locker room trailing 21-14.  The teams were even at nine through one quarter, but the Owls were outscored 12-5 in the second and never led after the 3:34 mark of the opening period.  KSC scored the game's first four points in a 1:24 span and led 6-2 after a Rylee Burgess layup at the 6:36 mark of the first, but then went nearly five minutes without a point before Luizzi tied the game at nine.  Jasmine Caldwell and Vivian scored on consecutive possessions for WestConn early in the second to put the visitors up 13-9, and they never did trail again despite shooting 33 percent from the field and 4-for-14 from three while committing 30 turnovers.

Leading by two (13-11) with 7:27 left until halftime, the Wolves scored eight consecutive points over the next 3:33 to open a double-digit lead, aided by 6-for-14 shooting (43 percent) from the floor in the period, easily a game-high.  The Owls were limited to just two field goals in the quarter, one of which came from Avery Stewart at the 3:02 mark that made it 21-14.  The score remained the same heading to the locker rooms, as KSC shot 6-for-25 (24 percent) overall in the opening 20 minutes.

Malaysia Dingle opened the second half scoring at the 7:45 mark of the third to put WestConn up double-digits again at 24-14, but most of the rest of the quarter belonged to the Owls, who closed to within five quickly on a three by Kenzie Durnford and layup from Burgess on their next two possessions and extended the run to 12-2, tying the game at 26 on a jumper from Durnford with 3:16 to go.  Nicole Peralta responded with a three to put the Wolves in front again, but Murray scored inside about a minute later to make it 29-28, which it remained entering the fourth quarter.  The Owls had four chances to perhaps carry a lead into the final 10 minutes, but were unable to, and ultimately were undone by a near nine-minute field goal drought that ensued after getting within one.  In that span, Western Connecticut scored nine of 10 points including the initial seven of the fourth quarter to take a 36-28 lead on consecutive layups from Dingle and Ashley Rilley with 8:21 remaining.  A jumper from Rilley four minutes later put her team up nine and seemingly well in control, but the Owls had one more run in them.  Murray and Jackie Alibrandi started the surge with back-to-back inside baskets to make it 38-33 with 2:56 left, and two free throws from Durnford a few seconds later after she grabbed an offensive rebound made it a one-possession game.  Caldwell canned two from the charity stripe on the other end to bump the lead back up to five with 2:43 left, but the Wolves then missed two free throws and committed three turnovers over the next 2:40 as KSC tied the game.

WestConn had the ball and a four-point edge with under a minute to go, but Burgess stole the ball from Rosaleen Regan and eventually converted on the other end with 13 seconds to go to make it 40-38.  The Wolves called a timeout and advanced the ball into the front court, but then threw the ball away with nobody touching it, setting up a chance for the Owls to tie or win the game with a fruitful offensive possession.  Murray passed into Grace Furze, who dribbled up the court and passed off to her right and Luizzi, who turned the corner and beat Peralta for a layup that made it 40-40 with 3.7 seconds left.  Despite limping to the finish, WestConn called a timeout and again advanced the ball – this time to the other side – with one more chance to win.  The inbounder Vivian found Peralta, who then passed back to Vivian, and her shot banked high off the glass an in to hand KSC a tough loss.  The buzzer-beater for the WestConn junior made up for what otherwise was a tough afternoon, as she made just two of her first 11 shots and missed both tries from long-range before making the one at the most critical of times.  She also finished as the Wolves' leading scorer with nine points.  Five others had six as WCSU won despite a season-low point total.

Murray paced Keene State with 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting.  She added five assists, three rebounds, and three steals.  Durnford had seven points.  The Owls had a 22-12 edge in paint points and outscored WCSU 22-15 off turnovers, but fell to 3-2 at home.

Inside the Paint

• Murray's five assists matched a season-high.  She has 30 on the season in 11 games and 70 in 35 career appearances.
• The Owls shot 50 percent (6-for-12) in the third quarter (outscoring WestConn 14-8), but connected at a 23 percent in the other three periods.  KSC's 3-of-21 effort from three represented a season-low clip.
• Keene State had won three of four against the Wolves entering the game, including a comfortable 70-52 final at Spaulding Gymnasium last February behind 18 points from Murray and 16 from Hailey Derosia.  KSC swept the season series last year.

Up Next

• The Owls travel to face Eastern Connecticut State University (10-4, 4-1 LEC) on Tuesday, January 10 for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off.  KSC has lost eight in a row in the series.  The Warriors rebounded from a blowout loss at Rhode Island College earlier in the week to post a 56-43 win at Castleton University today.  It will be only ECSU's fourth home game of the season.
• WestConn hosts the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (7-6, 3-1 LEC) on Monday (January 9) at 3:00 p.m.  The Corsairs have not lost to the Wolves since the 2015-2016 season, winning the last 10 meetings by an average of 22.1 points per game (all by double-digits).