WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Brynn Rautiola continued to stay hot for the Keene State College women's basketball team Wednesday night on the road at Eastern Connecticut State University as she tallied a game-high 27 points on 69.2% from the field in the Owls' 78-62 victory.

Records

• Keene State: 17-7 (11-4 LEC)
• Eastern Connecticut: 8-16 (5-10 LEC)

How it Happened


Coming off their season-high for a conference game with 98 points scored in the win over Western Connecticut State University, the Owls scored just 14 points in the opening 10 minutes of action. KSC did not score until 2:50 into the contest as Valerie Luizzi assisted Avery Stewart for the basket, but the Owls were behind 5-2 following a pair of baskets for the Warriors previously to open the contest. The offense continued the slow start the rest of the first quarter with just three total points being scored over the next five minutes, with Luizzi pulling the Owls within one with a basket. The rest of the first, KSC scored on four of their final five possessions, going on a 10-4 run to close out the quarter. Nicole Norton led the scoring for the Owls with a three, followed by a steal from Ruby Dasaro leading to her scoring a layup. The inverse happened to end the scoring with Dasaro hitting a pair of free throws and Norton hitting another three to give the Owls their 14-10 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
The Owls continued their scoring run at the end of the first quarter across the second quarter as KSC outscored ECSU 25-16. Although the Warriors did retake the lead 3:09 into the second as they opened the quarter on a 10-5 run despite a jump shot made from Luizzi and a three from Kiley Bundy for the Owls. Over the next minute and a half, KSC went on an 7-0 run to retake the lead with Rautiola hitting a three and a steal from Savanna Scali leading to another Rautiola basket, before Scali added a pair of free throws shortly after to take a six-point lead. Neveah King ended the scoring run for the Owls with 4:27 remaining in the opening half, but the Owls responded with scoring on three consecutive possessions to increase the lead to 10 with Rautiola, Dasaro, and Scali tallying two points apiece. The remainder of the first half, KSC went on a 7-4 run with Rautiola and Luizzi scoring a layup, followed by Rautiola making a free throw and her steal leading to another basket, bringing her second quarter point total to 12.
 
Eastern opened the second half up by converting an and-one to cut the lead to 10 on their first possession but following neither team scoring over the next two and a half minutes, KSC scored on six consecutive possessions over the next five minutes to increase the lead to 21. Dasaro and Rautiola led KSC scoring six points apiece with Dasaro scoring three layups blowing past the Warriors' defenders, while Rautiola hit a pair of threes to go with a basket from Sydney Cassidy and a free throw from Bundy to put the Owls up 53-32. The rest of the third the Warriors pulled within 16 with a 7-2 scoring run as Bundy hit another two free throws for KSC as the Owls took their 55-39 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
 
KSC opened the first 1:55 of the fourth on a 10-2 run to increase the lead back to 24. The Owls' defense helped the scoring run as a steal led to Rautiola's three to open the scoring, followed by a steal from Rautiola leading to her scoring another three on the ensuing possession. Avery Stewart hit a pair of free throws, followed by another basket from Dasaro to round out the Owls' scoring on their first four possessions of the final quarter. After ECSU scored four points across the next minute, both teams scored five points on four consecutive possessions with Bella Schultz-Mitchell making a basket and Bundy hitting another three to keep the lead at 20 with under five left to play. With 4:24 remaining, the last of the Owls' starters were pulled, but following the Warriors scoring seven points on their next three possessions to pull within 13 points, combined with KSC turning the ball over on three possessions, a timeout was called by KSC 1:30 later. With the starters back in, the Owls pulled away, ending the game on an 8-5 run with Rautiola hitting a three shortly after reentering the game, to go with three points from Cassidy and two from Dasaro, KSC coasted to their 78-62 win.
 
Inside the Paint

• KSC improves to 15-51 in the all-time series against the Warriors, having won the three most recent matchups for the longest winning streak by the Owls in the series.
• Rautiola continued to stay on fire as she scored a game-high 27 points, shooting 9-for-13 (69.2%) from the field and 6-for-9 (66.7%) from three to go with her team-high four steals in the win.
• Dasaro followed up her best shooting game on the season, with season-highs of each 20 points and 72.7% from the field, with 16 points on 77.8% shooting in the victory.
• With her three steals, Dasaro moves into fourth place for steals in a single season in program history as she reaches 73 steals in her sophomore season.
• Luizzi also moved up in the single season record books with her two steals moving her into tied for the 13th most steals in a season, tied with Nicole Simmler from her 2007-2008 season.
• The Owls capitalized on the Warriors' 25 turnovers, scoring 32 points off turnovers, while Eastern scored just 12 points off the Owls' 17 turnovers. 

Up Next


Keene State returns home for their regular season finale for Senior Day as the Owls look to avenge their loss earlier in the season to Rhode Island College on Saturday, February 21, at 1:00 PM.
Eastern Connecticut also has their regular season finale for their next contest as the Warriors host Plymouth State University on Saturday, February 21, at 3:00 PM.