(Game
Box)
KEENE, N.H. - Junior Kristin Degou (Newburyport,
Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points Tuesday evening to lead
fourth-seeded Keene State College to a 66-50 victory over
fifth-seed and rival Plymouth State University in a Little East
Conference women's basketball tournament quarterfinal game at
Spaulding Gym.
Keene State (20-6) will travel to Eastern Connecticut on Friday to
face the top-seeded Warriors in a semifinal contest. ECSU
defeated eighth-seeded UMass-Dartmouth 60-40 in its opening-round
game. PSU drops to 16-10 overall, and awaits a possible ECAC
New England Tournament berth, which will be announced on Monday.
Degou finished with six rebounds and four assists to go with her 21
points. Junior Jen Cleaveland (Newington, Conn.) added 12
points and classmate Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.) finished with 11
points for the Owls, who notched their second 20-win season in
Division III. Junior Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) collected a
game-high eight rebounds for the home team.
Sophomore Amanda Kania (Manchester, N.H./West)
scored a team-high 15 points for Plymouth State. Senior
Kayla Morin (Pasoag, R.I.) chipped in with 10
points and freshman Alicia Doucet (Manchester,
N.H./Central) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go with her
eight points.
The Owls went on a mini nine-point run early in the first half to
go up 16-8. The Panthers cut the Owls lead to four points on two
occasions, and it was a 26-22 with a minute to go in the half
before Degou hit a three-pointer and freshman Courtney Cirillo
(Windsor Locks, Conn.) added a pair of free throws to send KSC to
the locker room with a 31-22 lead. Both teams shot well from the
line in the half. Keene State connected on 10 of 11 shots
while the Panthers hit all six of their attempts.
KSC had several timely steals in the game. Following a steal in the
backcourt by Boudreau, one of her six in the game, Sapp hit a
three-pointer. Degou drained another three-point basket in
KSC's next possession to put them up 51-35 with 5:50 to play.
The pesky Panthers cut the Owls lead to 55-47 after Kania hit all
three free throws after being fouled taking a shot behind the
arc. Junior Laura Kent (Bellingham, Mass.)
made one of two shots from the line to make it 55-48 with 3:23 to
play.
Simmler pushed the Owls lead back up to nine points (57-48) after
hitting a pair from the line. Degou followed with a hoop and
then two free throws to give KSC a 60-48 lead with 1:29 to play,
and the Owls ran out the clock for the win.
(Courtesy of Keene State Sports
Information)
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