CASTLETON, Vt. – After being tied 33-33 at the half, the Keene State College women's basketball team pulled away in the second half to come away with their first Little East Conference win of the season after beating the University of Vermont State Castleton 76-65.

Records

• Keene State: 6-2 (1-0 LEC)
• Castleton: 3-3 (0-1 LEC)

How it Happened


Both teams traded three baskets apiece to open the scoring in the first three minutes of the contest as Avery Stewart, Valerie Luizzi, and Brynn Rautiola each made a field goal as the game was tied 6-6 after the first four minutes of action. Over the next three minutes Rautiola tacked on five more points for the Owls, but the rest of the opening quarter the Spartans answered back by scoring on five of their final seven possessions as the Spartans outscored KSC 12-4 the rest of the opening quarter to take a 18-15 lead into the second quarter.
 
Luizzi and Rautiola opened the second with a pair of made free throws apiece, but the Spartans scored four points to counter the Owls' four to maintain the three-point lead two minutes into the second. Ruby Dasaro hit a three to draw even with 6:24 remaining, but Maggie McKearin answered back with a three for Castleton shortly after to retake the lead once again by three less than a minute later. Following a free throw made by Kiley Bundy, Dasaro scored a basket on back-to-back possessions to put KSC up by a pair, but McKearin responded with a layup on the ensuing possession to tie the contest up for the third time in the quarter with 3:34 left in the opening half. Both teams tied the game up again for the fourth time just over a minute later as Rautiola made another pair of free throws and Dasaro made a layup and the contest was tied at 31 apiece. Both teams tacked on another basket late in the half as Rautiola's jumper was just inside the arc to send the game to the half tied at 33-33.
 
KSC started to pull away in the third quarter as the Owls outscored the Spartans 20-12 in the third. Luizzi opened the second half scoring with a three on the Owls' first possession, following an offensive rebound by Stewart. Following neither team scoring for two minutes, the teams combined to score on five consecutive possessions as Rautiola hit two more free throws, Luizzi hit a three, and Stewart made a layup for the Owls to put KSC ahead by five. After a three from the Spartans and Sydney Cassidy's first basket for the Owls, Castleton cut the Owls lead to four with under four minutes remaining in the third. In the final 3:03 of the third KSC outscored Castleton 8-4 with a free throw from each Dasaro and Savanna Scali and a three coming from Nicole Norton and Bella Schultz-Mitchell, who was playing in front of her former high school teammates in the contest to give KSC the 53-45 lead heading into the 53-45 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
 
The teams opened the scoring in the final quarter fast as the teams combined to score on five of their first seven possessions to open the quarter, favoring the Spartans this time. Despite the basket from Stewart and Bundy, Castleton outscored KSC 7-4 to cut the Owls' lead to five with 8:22 left to play. The teams traded a pair of baskets apiece over the next two minutes as Dasaro picked up another steal on defense for KSC to lead to a layup and Rautiola tacked on another basket as the Owls' lead stayed at five. Over the next four minutes the Owls went on an 11-5 run to increase the lead to 11 as Cassidy and Rautiola each tallied a pair of points, Luizzi hit another three, and Dasaro tacked on four points to put KSC ahead 72-61 with under three minutes remaining. The rest of the contest the Owls used most of the shot clock to kill the clock and the Spartans were unable to get going as KSC pulled away for the 76-65 victory on the road.
 
Inside the Paint

• Keene State improves to 10-7 in the all-time series between the two teams, having won the six most recent matchups by an average of eight points.
• Rautiola led the Owls on the attack again with a game-high 21 points. Going 8-for-8 at the line in the win, Rautiola moves to 36-for-37 (97.2%) at the line on the season.
• Dasaro finished with 18 points, shooting 8-for-13 (62%) from the field, to go with five rebounds and an assist on the attack. On defense Dasaro finished with game-highs for both steals, with six, and blocks, with a pair for KSC.
• Luizzi continued her climb to 1,000 career points with 15 points in the win to make it to 956 career points from her 50% shooting day from 5-for-10 from the field and 3-for-6 from three to go with her five board, an assist, and three steals.
• Luizzi has averaged five steals per game over her five most recent games as she increases her season average to 3.3 per game, while Dasaro's average on the season is 3.8 steals per game following reaching the six-steal mark for the third time this season.
• Stewart finished the contest with eight points to go with her team-high eight boards.
• Castleton turned the ball over 29 times to 18 from the Owls.

 
Up Next


Keene State returns home for their next contest as the Owls host the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Saturday, December 6, at 1:00 PM.
Castleton hits the road for their next contest as the Spartans travel to take on the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth on Saturday, December 6, at 12:00 PM.