HENNIKER, N.H. – After taking the lead with 6:38 remaining in the opening quarter over New England College, the Keene State College women's basketball team cruised the rest of the way for their second victory of the season thanks to a game-high 17 points from
Brynn Rautiola and 16 points apiece from
Kiley Bundy and
Sydney Cassidy for the 72-48 victory.
Records
- Keene State: 2-0
- New England College: 1-2
How it Happened
NEC jumped ahead with to a 4-2 lead in the opening two minutes of the contest, but the Owls responded with a 14-0 run over the following 4:26 of the contest, scoring on five of their six consecutive possessions. Bundy opened the scoring run with a pair of threes, before Casidy hit a three of her own to go with
Bella Schultz-Mitchell converting an and-one and Dasaro adding a layup shortly after to go ahead 12 with 3:34 remaining. The Pilgrims finally ended the Owls' scoring run as Brianna Ruelas hit a three with 2:58 left to go in the quarter, but the Owls continued the scoring attack the rest of the opening quarter on a 7-2 run, capped off by a three from Rautiola to take a 23-9 lead into the second.
Cassidy and the Owls came out of the gates in the second quarter hot as Cassidy logged seven of the Owls' first 10 points of the quarter to go with a three from
Kelsey LaMay over KSC's 10-2 run over the opening 2:17 of the second. Both teams traded seven points apiece over the following three minutes as the Owls maintained the 22-point lead, but the Pilgrims recorded an 11-7 run the remainder of the opening half despite five points from Rautiola and a pair from Bundy as KSC took their 47-29 lead into the half.
The third quarter was by far the lowest scoring quarter of the contest as both teams combined for just 16 points over the 10 minutes of action. Deja Lee opened the scoring for NEC 2:20 into the third to cut the Owls' lead to 16, but Rautiola answered back with a three 27 seconds later to go with a pair of points from each Dasaro and Cassidy over the next minute, compared to just two points from NEC as the Owls jumped to a 54-33 lead. The remaining 5:59 of the third quarter the teams only scored five combined points as Rautiola hit a three for KSC and Jayden Estrada made a layup for the Pilgrims with 16 seconds remaining to end the 5:55 scoreless run for NEC to cut the Owls' lead to 57-35 heading into the final quarter.
NEC would not go away in the fourth quarter as the Pilgrims cut the Owls' lead down to 16 when with 4:22 remaining after a 13-7 run for NEC. Despite NEC's comeback attempt, KSC locked the Pilgrims down the rest of the way, with a pair of blocks from Rautiola on defense and the Owls outscoring NEC 8-0 the remainder of the contest thanks to five points from Bundy,
Sophia Grillone's first collegiate basket, and a free throw from
Charlotte Buckley in the closing second to give the Owls a 72-48 victory on the day.
Inside the Paint
- KSC improves to 6-2 in the all-time series with KSC winning the two most recent matchups by an average of 31 points.
- Rautiola returned to form with her game-high 17 points in the contest, after leading the Owls in scoring in 22 of 29 (75.9%) games a season ago, as she logged four threes in the contest to go with her three of each rebounds and assists and two of each steals and blocks and zero turnovers over her 33 minutes of action.
- Bundy and Cassidy both were right behind Rautiola as Bundy shot 6-for-11 (.545) from the field and 3-for-6 (.500) from three and Cassidy went 7-for-13 (.538) from the field to go with three boards in the victory.
- Dasaro also continued to fill the stat sheet as she recorded six points to go with her game-high eight rebounds and game-high six assists in the victory as she has now recorded 17 points, 17 rebounds, and 15 assists over the opening two games of the season.
- LaMay showed she can contribute to other avenues of the Owls' game after dropping 23 points in the season-opening win a few days prior as she logged five points to go with six rebounds and three assists in her 26 minutes on the court.
- The Owls scored 24 points off the Pilgrims' 20 turnovers, while NEC scored 16 points off 18 KSC turnovers.
Up Next
Keene State returns home for their next contest as the Owls host RPI on Saturday, November 14, at 12:00 PM.
New England College hits the road for their next contest as the Pilgrims travel to take on Lesley University also on Saturday, November 14, at 12:00 PM.
