(Game Box)
PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Junior Kristen Degou
(Newburyport, Mass.) and Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) combined to
score 40 points Tuesday evening as Keene State College pulled away
from Plymouth State University en route to a 72-50 victory in a
Little East Conference women's basketball game at Foley Gymnasium.
The score was deadlocked at 44-apiece with 11:45 remaining in the
second half when Keene State outscored the Panthers 13-2 over the
next six minutes and PSU never recovered. The Owls also kept
the home team scoreless over the last three minutes of the game,
scoring 10 unanswered points, including eight straight free throws,
to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Keene State stopped Plymouth State's six-game win streak. The
Owls improved to 13-3 overall and 4-2 in the LEC, while PSU fell to
12-4 and 3-3.
Degou finished with team-high of 21 points and nine rebounds,
making 8-of-13 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point
range. She also collected four assists, five steals and two
blocked shots. Simmler was 9-of-16 from the field to finish
with 19 points and six boards.
PSU was led by sophomore Amanda Kania (Manchester,
N.H./West), who scored 21 points to match her second-highest output
of the season. She also grabbed eight rebounds as the Panthers won
the battle on the boards, 39-38. Junior Laura Kent
(Bellingham, Mass.) added 10 points in the losing cause.
There were six lead changes in the first 10 minutes of the
game. Keene State heated up and pulled ahead to a 12-point
margin, 30-18, with four minutes left in the half, but PSU rallied
to cut the deficit to seven points at the break, 35-28.
The Panthers battled back in the early stages of the second half,
tying the game at 40-40 with 16 minutes on the clock and again at
44-all four minutes later. Then Keene State took over with the
game-winning surge.
Both teams are back in action with LEC home games this Saturday at
1:00 p.m., PSU hosting Eastern Connecticut and KSC entertaining
Southern Maine.
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