Box Score

KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College women's basketball team bounced back from their tough defeat on Wednesday afternoon with a dominant victory over Western Connecticut State University on Saturday afternoon, led by 30 points across 24 minutes from Brynn Rautiola in the 98-70 win for KSC.

Records

• Keene State: 16-7 (10-4 LEC)
• Western Connecticut: 9-14 (4-10 LEC)

How it Happened


Making her first career start, Anna Brown opened the game assisting on the Owls' first two baskets over their first two possessions as Avery Stewart and Valerie Luizzi each made a basket to go up 4-0 49 into the contest. Over the next four and a half minutes, KSC went on an 8-5 run as Brynn Rautiola scored all eight points for the Owls, scoring on four of six possessions in a row, bringing the score to 12-5 with 4:40 remaining in the first quarter. The Owls continued to pile on the points over three of the four next possessions with Rautiola assisting Luizzi for a layup, a steal from Kiley Bundy leading to a layup from Savanna Scali, and an offensive rebound from Scali leading to a three from Rautiola to put the Owls up 19-9 with 2:10 left in the opening quarter. The rest of the first, WestConn went on a 6-2 run with Rautiola making a pair of free throws for KSC as the Owls took their 21-15 lead into the second quarter.
 
The second quarter was the Owls' highest scoring quarter of the season as KSC scored 36 points over the 10 minutes of action. Despite the high scoring quarter, it started slow with each team scoring three points over the first three minutes of the second as Ruby Dasaro assisted Bella Schultz-Mitchell for a basket and then she added a free throw shortly after. Over the next 10 possessions for the Owls, KSC went on a 22-7 run, scoring on each of the possessions over the three-and-a-half-minute run. Dasaro led the way for the Owls scoring 11 of the 22 points over the run, while Rautiola was close behind with eight, including threes on back-to-back possessions with the Owls' defense holding strong, forcing four steals over the timespan. In the closing 2:38 of the first half, the Owls defense continued to force turnovers as they came away with four steals to close out the first on an 11-6 run by scoring on five consecutive possessions. Rautiola led the Owls with four of the 11 points, while Kiley Bundy hit a three, and Dasaro and Nicole Norton each scored a pair to put the Owls up 57-30 heading into the second half.
 
 
Over the first four minutes of the second half the Wolves opened on a 10-5 run as they tried to make a comeback as Stewart scored a layup for the Owls and Sydney Cassidy converted on an and-one to account for the Owls' five points to open the scoring. WestConn continued their short scoring run by outscoring KSC 5-4 over the next few minutes, but as the quarter started to come to a close in the final 2:16, KSC started to pile the points on, scoring 16 the rest of the way in the third. Stewart hit a free throw to open the 16-6 scoring run and after Rautiola made a pair of free throws shorty after on a technical called on the Wolves' bench, Cassidy assisted Scali on the Owls' first of three consecutive threes over 27 seconds. Scali stole the ensuing inbounds pass, resulting in Stewart assisting Norton for a three and a steal from Stewart on the ensuing possession leading to Norton assisting Rautiola for the third three in a row. With 14 seconds remaining in the third, Cassidy made a pair of free throws and Scali came away with the steal shortly after, leading to a layup to put KSC up by 30 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Both teams came out of the gates hot in the fourth, scoring on each of their first three possessions across the first two minutes of the quarter. Dasaro accounted for a pair of the baskets, while Luizzi made the other to maintain the 30-point lead for the Owls. Over the next two minutes the Owls increased the lead to as high as 35 points from a 7-2 run with Bundy hitting a three and Dasaro and Luizzi each making a layup. The rest of the contest the Wolves tried to mount a comeback, but their 10-3 run the rest of the way was not enough as Charlotte Buckley assisted Bella Schultz-Mitchell for a three for the Owls and KSC cruised to their 98-70 victory.
 
Inside the Paint

• KSC improves to 27-34 in the all-time series between the two teams with the win as the Owls have won the four most recent matchups by an average of 22.75 points.
• Rautiola led the Owls with her 30 points (tying Sara Macary for the game-high), for her third 30-point game of the season, as she shot 10-for-17 (58.8%) from the field and 5-for-12 (41.7%) from three over 33 minutes, to go with tying Dasaro with a game-high four steals apiece.
• Dasaro tallied a season-high 20 points over her 22 minutes of action as she had career-best day shooting from the field, going 8-for-11 (72.7%) from the field, 4-for-5 (80%) at the line, while also tying for the team-high with four boards, and recording a game-high of five assists.
• With her four steals, Dasaro moves to 70 steals across her sophomore season as she is now tied with Tina Gonyea (1989-1990) for the fifth-most in a season in program history.
• Luizzi and Cassidy each tied for the game-high of two blocks apiece in the contest, with Luizzi also scoring 10 points to go with four rebounds, and three steals, while Cassidy scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds to go with her pair of blocks.
• With her three steals, Luizzi moved into tied for the 14th most steals in a season with 59 steals, tying Bri Barnes' mark set in the 2005-2006 season.
• The Owls had their second-best shooting game of the season, shooting 35-for-69 (50.7%) from the field as they eclipsed 50% shooting for the second time this season to go with 30.3% (10-for-33) from three on the day, compared to the Wolves going 0-for-5 from deep.
• The Wolves' 33 turnovers are tied for the most by an opponent against the Owls on the year as KSC scored 47 of their points off WestConn turnovers, compared to the Wolves scoring 17 points off 17 turnovers from the Owls.

 
Up Next


Keene State hits the road for the final time during the regular season for their next matchup against Eastern Connecticut State University on Wednesday, February 18, at 5:00 PM.
WestConn next plays at Rhode Island College on Wednesday, February 18, at 5:30.