KEENE, N.H. - Senior guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) scored 21 points, pulled down a career high 14 rebounds, and made four blocks to lead top seed Keene State College to a 84-54 win over eighth seed Suffolk University in a quarterfinal game of the ECAC New England Women's Basketball Tournament at Spaulding Gym on Wednesday night.
Looking for their first-ever ECAC Division III championship, the Owls (18-9) advance to the semifinals where they will host fourth seed WPI. The Engineers defeated fifth seed Norwich University (70-54) in their opening-round game. In other quarterfinal action, second seed Regis College beat seventh seed Worcester State (63-53) and sixth seed Plymouth State upset third seed Endicott 70-59. Keene State will host the semifinal and championship games. On Saturday, Keene State will go up against WPI at 1 p.m. and Regis will take on PSU at 3 p.m. The two semifinal winners will play for the championship on Sunday (1 p.m.).
"I thought we improved as the game progressed," said KSC Coach Keith Boucher. "We stepped up defensively in the second half, made some shots and distributed the ball well. But it gets tougher. You have to play a little better each game. That's the way it is in a tournament. Hopefully, we'll be ready to play on Saturday."
With the score tied at 12-all, Keene State ran off 14 straight points to go up 26-12 on a pair of free throws by senior forward Jen Cleaveland (Newington, Conn.). A conventional three-point play by sophomore forward Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, Conn.) later in the half extended KSC's lead to 17 points (37-20) with 4:20 to go. KSC took a 41-29 lead to the locker room.
Suffolk got the deficit down to single digits 48-39 just once in the second half when freshman guard Jacqueline Vienneau (Salem, N.H.) hit one of two free throws at the 15:13 mark. But the Rams got no closer.
KSC kept building on its lead. Cleaveland hit Cirillo going to the hoop for a basket and senior guard Alyssa Sapp (Hartford, Vt.) had a spinning lay-up that put the Owls up 75-48 with 6:06 to play.
Sophomore guard Sara Laudano (North Haven, Conn.), who knocked down four three-pointers, finished with 17 points while Cirillo had 15 points. Sapp had a fine overall game at the point for the Owls with 13 points, four rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Vienneau scored 15 points for Suffolk, who finish its season with a 14-13 record. Sophomores Mary Garon (Auburn, N.H.) and Meghan Black (Roslindale, Mass.) each had 11 points. Black also added nine rebounds.
Keene State had a wide 49-30 rebound advantage.
The Owls are making their fifth appearance in the ECAC tournament. Suffolk was playing in the tournament for the third time in the past four years.
(Story courtesy of Keene State College Sports Information)