(Box Score) 

            WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team sank a season-high 30 free throws in completing a Little East Conference regular-season sweep of Plymouth State University, 71-58, Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

            Eastern (13-5, 7-2 little east) connected on 30-of-35 shots from the stripe as the Warriors extended their  seven-year winning streak over Plymouth State (14-6, 4-5 little east) to 15 games.  The win snaps a two-game losing streak for Eastern, which pulls to within a game of conference leader Western Connecticut State University.

            The Warriors got 13 first-half points from freshman post player Lauren Kelleher (Dartmouth, Mass.) and outscored Plymouth 14-1 from the foul line to take a 10-point lead into the break, and withstood several PSU bids in the second half. Eastern led by 11 points with seven minutes left but needed to score the final seven points of the game to finally ice the win. Plymouth shot just 22.6 percent from the floor in the second half and Eastern turned the ball over only six times over the final 20 minutes.

            Kelleher was perfect on seven free throw attempts en route to a career-high 15 points. Junior Brittany Whiteley (Windsor Locks, Conn.) was 8-for-10 from the stripe in posting a game-high 18 points; junior guard Jessica Moriarty (East Haven, Conn.) was 7-for-8 from the line and also grabbed a game and season-high 10 rebounds and finished with 14 points.

            PSU kept within striking distance throughout by nearly matching Eastern's free throw percentage. The Panthers were 16-of-19 from the stripe. Junior Amanda Kania (Manchester, N.H./West), sophomore Alicia Doucet (Manchester, N.H./Central) and senior Laura Kent (Bellingham, Mass.) combined for 37 of Plymouth State's points, Kania with 14, Doucet 13 and Kent 10.  Doucet also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The trio was 14-for-16 from the foul line.

            Eastern visits Vassar College Tuesday for a non-conference game at 6:00 p.m.  The Panthers are off until next Saturday when they travel to Western Connecticut for another LEC affair (2:00 p.m.) 

(Courtesy of Eastern Conn. Sports Information) 

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