WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – After the loss earlier in the season at home to Eastern Connecticut State, the Keene State women's basketball team was looking to travel down to Willimantic to get payback on the Warriors on Wednesday night. With the third-best field goal percentage in a game of the season for the Owls, shooting 25-53 (47.2%) from the field and a season-best 10-20 (50%) from beyond the arc, Keene State decimated Eastern Connecticut, picking up the win with crucial Little East Conference playoff seed implications, 68-37.

Records

• Keene State: 11-10 (7-6 LEC)
• Eastern Connecticut State: 9-13 (7-6 LEC)

How it Happened

Keene State came out of the gates hot in the first 10 minutes of play, doubling the Warriors' score by the end of the first quarter. Avery Stewart opened the scoring, hitting a three pointer, shortly after grabbing the defensive rebound on the other end of the court. Taylor Salato answered right back for the Warriors, hitting a jump shot, 1:55 into play. Valerie Luizzi hit a pair of free throws, followed by a layup from Samantha Lee to give KSC a 7-2 lead with six minutes left in the quarter. Eastern Connecticut responded with three points, with Salato hitting a jumper and Kya Mayo hitting a free throw, with just under four minutes in the quarter. Luizzi scored on the next two possessions for the Owls, hitting a three-pointer (assisted by Stewart), and then hitting a jumper on the next trip down the court, putting KSC up 12-5. Both teams traded baskets back and forth, as the quarter started to wrap up, with Salato hitting a field goal, followed by one from Lee. Salato once again scored on the Warriors' next possession, good for her eighth of the Warriors' nine points in the first quarter, but Rautiola answered with back with a layup just seconds later. Luizzi wrapped up the end of the first quarter on a high note, hitting a layup (for her ninth point in the first quarter) with 21 seconds left, after grabbing the rebound on the other end of the court, and then she forced a turnover on Nevaeh Clark and stole the ball on the Warriors' last attempt of the first. 
 
Lilly Krysinski opened the scoring in the second quarter, hitting field goals on her first two attempts to put the Owls up by 13, 2:19 into the quarter. Salato started the scoring for the Warriors once again, hitting a pair of free throws for her 10th points through 12:40 of game time. KSC responded Salato's free throws with six consecutive points, with a pair of field goals from Lee and one from Stewart, with 4:29 left in the first half. Both teams scored three points over the next minute and change, with Clark hitting a free throw and Cara McGettigan making a layup for ECSU, while Katie Sullivan got on the board, knocking down a three pointer for the Owls. ECSU scored four more points, converting field goals on their next two possessions, but KSC responded right back, scoring four more points of their own, coming from a layup from Luizzi and a pair of free throws from Rautiola. Salato hit a free throw, her 11th point of the first half, tying Luizzi for the most in the first half, cutting the Owls lead to 35-19 at halftime.
 
Both teams opened the scoring in the third quarter trading basket back and forth, with McGettigan hitting a jumper, followed by Rautiola's first three pointer of the game. After Mayo hit a jumper 2:02 into the quarter, Keene State scored eight consecutive points, coming from four different players; Krysinski and Rautiola accounted for two apiece, while Luizzi drained a three-pointer and Stewart added a free throw. Just before reaching halfway through the quarter, the Warriors ended the Owls scoring run with another field goal from Salato. In the final five minutes of the third, only seven points were scored, with Julia Knowles logging the only basket for the Warrior, while KSC scored five points, coming off three made free throws from Rautiola and another field goal made from Luizzi to bring the score to 51-27 at the end of the third.
 
Over the first five minutes of the last quarter, ECSU outscored the Owls 8-3, with the Owls' lone basket coming from a Rautiola three-pointer, compared to three field goals from Salato and one from McGettigan for ECSU. KSC responded right back to the Warriors' scoring run by putting the nail in the coffin by scoring 14 consecutive points, coming from five different players. Over the run, the Owls hit a three-pointer in four consecutive possessions, as Stewart, Luizzi, Krysinski, and Pillsbury each hit a three, in order. The final basket for the Owls on the day came from Kaitlyn Stowell, her second of the year, followed by a pair of free throws from Claudia Koiva for ECSU in the closing seconds.
 
Inside the Paint

• Keene State answered back to their close 62-59 loss earlier in the season against the Warriors with the win today, moving both teams to 7-6 in LEC play on the season.
• Luizzi and Salato tied for a game-high of 19 points, although Luizzi shot 7-11 (63.6%), including 3-5 from three, to Salato's 8-16 (50%) from the field. Luizzi and Salato also tied with a game-high of seven rebounds apiece.
• Rautiola led all freshmen in scoring in the win, logging 15 points and another perfect game at the free throw line going 5-5, while reigning LEC Rookie of the Week, Clark, finished with three points, thanks to the Owls' lockdown defense, holding her to 1-12 from the field and 0-4 from beyond the arc.
• Rautiola's season average PPG slips down to 19.9, although she is still first in the LEC for PPG, along with projecting to stay within the top 25 in all of Division III women's basketball PPG in the country.
• Along with the third best FG% in a game on the season for KSC, and their best 3PFG% in a game so far, Keene State shot 8-9 (88.9%) from the free throw line, their third best mark this season, and their fourth most points in a game (68).
• Eastern Connecticut State finished 15-61 (.246) from the field and 0-9 from three, which are both the lowest FG% and 3PFG% that the Owls have held opponents to on the season. The Warriors' 37 points are also the least number of points allowed by the Owls so far in the season, as they held ECSU to 10 or fewer points in every quarter.
• After Keene State took the 3-0 lead from Stewart, 1:15 into the first quarter, Keene State led for the remainder of the 38:45 of play.
• All healthy players on the Keene State roster played and scored a basket in the win today, which is the second time this season it has happened (at Vermont State Johnson (11/28/23)

Up Next

Keene State's next game will come on Saturday, February 10, at 1:00 PM against Western Connecticut State. The Owls are looking to avenge their loss earlier this season to the Wolves, 62-42 at WCSU.
Eastern Connecticut State's next game is at Vermont State Castleton on Saturday, February 1, at 1 PM. Eastern Connecticut State lost in the previous matchup against the Spartans, 65-39