KEENE, N.H. – The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth carried a 15-point lead into halftime despite making only nine field goals in the opening 20 minutes, and then shot 54 percent from the field and made 7-of-11 from three-point range in the second half to runaway to a 69-34 victory over the ice cold Keene State College women's basketball team in a Little East Conference contest Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• Keene State:  5-15, 3-11 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  14-8, 10-3 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Boucher)

How It Happened
After a strong start in Saturday's win at Western Connecticut State University, the Owls could not carry that momentum over on this night and – after shooting a season-best percentage on that day – recorded their second lowest field goal percentage of the season as they suffered a lopsided defeat at home to a Corsair team that had allowed at least 71 points defensively in 11 of 21 games this season.  Despite a 3-for-15 showing from the field in the opening quarter, KSC trailed only 10-7 after ten minutes thanks to limiting the Corsairs to just 4-for-12 themselves.  UMD trailed 2-0, but scored six straight and never trailed again, but aside from five points in 22 seconds early in the period scored just five others in the remaining 9:38 of the quarter.  A Lilly Krysinski old-fashioned three-point play at the 3:10 mark had the Owls within 6-5, and a Kenzie Durnford layup before the buzzer made it 10-7.  However, it went south in a hurry after that, as the Owls scored only seven points total in the next two quarters and made two field goals (both threes) and one free throw to fall into an insurmountable deficit.  UMass-Dartmouth began the second with treys from Jordan Moretti and Julia Quinn to quickly go up nine (16-7), and despite not torching the nets in the first half, continued to expand the lead from there.  A jumper from Kaylin Zalewski made it 18-7 with 5:05 left in the half, and then a jumper from Teja Andrews four minutes later made it 22-7.  Zalewski canned a triple with 25 seconds left to put the Corsairs ahead by 17 before Durnford beat the buzzer again, this time with a three-pointer that provided KSC their first points of the quarter that made it a 25-10 game at halftime.

In need of a rapid burst out of the locker room, it never came for the Owls and instead it was UMass-Dartmouth that made eight of 13 shots from the floor in the third quarter to widen the gap even further.  They scored the first seven points of the half, including another long-range make from Zalewski, in just 1:53 to take a 32-10 lead before Valerie Luizzi got KSC on the board with a triple.  However, the Owls managed just one other point on a free throw in the rest of what wound up being a four-point quarter as they trailed 45-14 through three, their lowest point total through 30 minutes all season.  UMass-Dartmouth's advantage grew to as many as 34 in the final quarter, as despite KSC putting up 20 points on 7-for-18 shooting from the field, the visitors still shot 46 percent overall, made five of six threes, and shot 7-for-8 at the free throw line in the period.  UMD finished with 11 made threes in the game and shot 41 percent from there while also making 12-of-15 from the charity stripe.  Meanwhile, KSC was 5-for-23 (22 percent) from deep and 5-for-11 (46 percent) at the foul line.  The Owls finished 12-for-54 from the field overall, and were held to just seven two-point field goals.

Moretti led UMass-Dartmouth with 14 points (5-8 FG, 2-5 3-PT, 2-3 FT), five rebounds, four assists, a block, and three steals.  Zalewski added 10 points but shot only 3-for-11 overall and 2-of-8 from three-point land.  No other Corsair reached double-figures, but nine others did score, and they shot 43 percent overall.

Luizzi (2-7 3-PT) and Elizabeth Gonyea (2-6 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 3-4 FT) paced Keene State with eight points apiece, but no Owl reached double-figures.  Rylee Burgess grabbed 14 rebounds, one shy of matching her career-best 15 set earlier this season against Plymouth State University on December 7.

Inside the Paint

• UMass-Dartmouth committed 18 turnovers but KSC turned those into only 11 points.  The Owls' 24 miscues turned into 17 Corsair points.
• Luizzi has made multiple threes in five consecutive games.
• After winning 62-54 in their final meeting between the teams last year in North Dartmouth, the Owls were swept in the season series by UMD after dropping the earlier meeting 76-51.  KSC leads the all-time series 36-19, but has lost seven times to the Corsairs at Spaulding Gymnasium since 2014-2015 after doing so just once before that.

Up Next

• Keene State has a weekend bye before returning to action next Wednesday, February 15 with a road game at Castleton University (15-7, 8-5 LEC).  Tip-off is at 5:00 p.m.  The Owls would be eliminated from LEC tournament contention with one more win by both Western Connecticut (who is at Castleton Saturday) and the University of Massachusetts-Boston (who is at Rhode Island College that day).  KSC has won one time at Castleton since joining the league.  The fourth-place Spartans won in two overtimes at UMass-Boston tonight and remain unbeaten in league play against teams below them in the standings (and winless against teams above them).
• UMass-Dartmouth hosts Plymouth State (5-16, 0-14 LEC) on Saturday (February 11) at 1:00 p.m.  The Corsairs are 22-1 in their last 23 games against the Panthers.