NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Keene State College women's basketball team hoped entering the Little East Conference tournament having won three of their last four games including the previous two to clinch the No. 6 seed would help provide a different result against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth after the Owls had lost both regular season meetings by over 20 points.  However, there was no such luck for KSC, who scored 11 points in the opening half and never recovered in a 59-37 quarterfinal loss to the Corsairs at the Tripp Athletic Center Wednesday night.

Records

• Keene State:  7-16
• UMass-Dartmouth:  17-9

How It Happened
Needing a pair of wins and help last week to qualify for the Little East tournament, the Owls got both to happen and, in turn, another shot at UMD, who they had lost to 76-51 on the road in January and 69-34 at home 13 days ago in a game that saw them score only 14 points through three quarters.  Since that loss to UMass-Dartmouth, KSC had hoped they had found something offensively, shooting 45 percent in each of their last two games (a 55-54 win at Castleton University and a 68-56 home win over the University of Massachusetts-Boston).  The victories improved the Owls' record when they shot 40 percent or better on the season to 5-1 – and they also won a pair of contests when they shot 37 and 38 percent, meaning that when they shot under 37 percent, they were winless in 15 tries.  That trend did not reverse on this night, as KSC connected on just 29 percent from the field (16-for-55) and 4-of-22 (18 percent) from three-point range.  The Owls made just one field goal in the opening quarter and found themselves trailing 15-3 after 10 minutes.  The hole at halftime was 23-11 after each team scored eight points in the second, and that score was eerily reminiscent of the last time the two teams met at Spaulding Gymnasium when KSC produced a solid defensive effort in the opening 20 minutes, holding UMD that night to just 25 points on 9-for-28 (32 percent) shooting.  Remarkably, the Corsairs shot the exact same 32 percent on 9-of-28 in tonight's first half as well, but both times the Owls found themselves down double-digits (the first time 25-10 and this time 23-11) due to an ice cold offense against what is the LEC's second worst defense in both points per game allowed and field goal percentage defense.

Keene State found some offense after the break, including making 3-of-7 from deep in a third quarter that saw them score 15 points, but they made no dent in the 12-point deficit and actually saw the gap grow by seven because the Corsairs shot 8-for-14 (57 percent) in the period and scored 22 points to bring a commanding 45-26 lead into the fourth quarter.  KSC surrendered the opening six points of the second half to fall behind 29-11 at the 6:56 mark of the third and then was down 34-14 a minute and a half later before Valerie Luizzi drained back-to-back threes in a 38-second span to bring the Owls' deficit down to 14 with still 14:30 overall left in the game including the entire fourth quarter.  UMD answered with the next four, but Rylee Burgess scored on consecutive possessions down low to make it a 38-24 game with 2:40 to go in the quarter.  The Owls ultimately never got closer than that the rest of the night.  The Corsairs carried a 45-26 lead into the final 10 minutes after ending the third on a 7-2 burst.

It did not get any better in the fourth for KSC, as UMD began on a 9-2 run and extended their larger surge to 16-4 as they went up 54-28 with 6:51 left.  The Owls did not get the lead under 20 again until Luizzi made a jumper that made it 56-37 with 1:20 remaining.  The Keene State first year guard finished with a team-leading 11 points and made multiple threes for the sixth time in the last seven games.  Kenzie Durnford finished with 10 points (4-8 FG, 2-4 3-PT) and five rebounds.  Burgess added eight points while making 4-of-6 shots and grabbed eight boards.

In addition to cold shooting (Keene State shot 5-for-28, 18 percent in the opening half), the Owls committed 23 turnovers (UMD had 17), leading to a 22-9 advantage in points off turnovers for the Corsairs. 

UMass-Dartmouth shot 40 percent overall, including 13-for-27 (48 percent) after halftime when they outscored KSC 36-26.  They also shot 4-of-10 from three-point land in the final 20 minutes after a dismal 3-for-15 showing in the first half.  Eerily, that also replicated itself from the last meeting, when UMD shot 4-for-16 from long range in the opening half before heating up to 7-for-11 after.  Jordan Moretti (5-9 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 1-2 FT, 9 reb., 4 asst.) and Jessica Carroll (5-9 FG, 2-5 3-PT) each scored 12 points to lead the Corsairs.  Jemima Joseph added nine points (3-6 FG) and five rebounds.

After Keene State jumped out to an early 10-3 lead in the season's first meeting in North Dartmouth on January 4, they only led one time by two points when they scored the opening basket in Keene in the next two matchups.  In the first game at UMD, the Owls were haunted by a 27-8 second quarter that gave the Corsairs a 44-24 halftime lead.

Inside the Paint

• Aryanna Murray and Luizzi will end the season sharing the team scoring lead at 9.5 points per game.  Luizzi had 13 double-digit scoring efforts and Murray 11.
• Durnford finished the year averaging 9.3 points per game and shot 43 percent overall (a six percentage point improvement from her rookie season) and 33 percent from three.
• KSC has lost four of five and is 3-11 in the last 14 matchups in the series.  They have lost four straight in the LEC quarterfinal round since winning the tournament in 2017.  The Owls reached the final in the 2021 season, upsetting UMass-Dartmouth 63-60 on the road in the semifinals of the four-team tournament.

Up Next

• Keene State's season is over.  They went 3-9 on the road.  Overall, a young team, the Owls do not lose anybody who played this year to graduation.
• UMass-Dartmouth travels to Rhode Island College (22-3, 15-1 LEC) for a semifinal on Thursday, February 23 at 5:30 p.m., weather permitting.  The Anchorwomen twice pummeled the Corsairs in the regular season, winning 77-61 on the road and 76-56 at home.  UMD has allowed over 70 points 13 times in 26 games this season.