For the second straight year the second seeded Keene State College Women’s basketball team will be playing for a chance to go to the Little East Championship.
They earned the their ticket to Willimantic, Connecticut by defeating Rhode Island College 70-58, Tuesday night behind a stellar defense and a balanced scoring attack. The seventh seeded Anchorwomen brought in their dynamic duo of Alex Moore and Devin Hill. Moore averages 13 points per game and has the capability to score 20 plus points if she gets hot.
Photo Editor / Tim Smith
But they were no match for the Owls defensive anchors of Stephanie D’Annolfo and Amanda Petrow. D’Annolfo stayed with Moore the entire game and limited her to just 13 points on 4-12 shooting. While Keene’s bigs led by Petrow held Hill to eleven points on 3-10 from the field.
The offense was much improved as well from the Owls last game to close out the regular season, which was also against RIC on Saturday. Four players scored in double figures Tuesday night led by Sandi Purcell’s 21, who led all players in scoring. Joining Purcell was Sarah Kober who finished with eleven points and eight rebounds, Steph D’Annolfo had ten points and nine rebounds and Ryanne Williams had a double-double off the bench with ten points and ten rebounds. To go along with her great defensive play, Amanda Petrow finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
For both Williams and point guard Kelsey Cognetta it was their last game at Spaulding Gym in their careers. Cognetta will go down as one of the all time great point guards to put on the uniform at Keene State.“It feels really nice especially since it’s at home and it’s my last season and it’s the playoffs.”
Owls Head Coach Keith Boucher was pleased with his teams play, he said, “You’re going to win when you play tough defense and make some shots, and I think we moved the ball around well and played tough defense tonight.”
The Owls will play the winner of Western Connecticut and UMass Boston in the semifinals, which was postponed to Wednesday night due to weather. Keene State will be trying to win their first ever LEC championship.
Mike Miezejeski can be contacted at mmiezejeski@kscequinox.com
