Keene State women’s basketball had a valiant effort to make the Little East Conference (LEC) playoffs, winning their final two conference games to sneak into the postseason. Their stay would not last long, however, as they were beaten 59-37 on Tuesday night by the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth in the LEC quarterfinals, ending their 2022-23 season.
Needing a quick start to the game, the Owls struggled in the first quarter, putting up just three points and quickly falling behind 15-3 to the Corsairs. The second quarter would go slightly better for the Owls, as they tied UMD in points with eight; however, it would not do anything to bring the Owls closer, entering the half as Keene State trailed 23-11.
Only trailing by 12 with a half to play, the Owls once again needed a fast start to remain in a position to compete for an upset win. Again, the Corsairs would get off to a quick start to the half, extending the lead to 29-11 and eventually taking a 20-point lead at 34-14. A couple of three-pointers from firstyear guard Valerie Luizzi would cut the deficit back to 14 and keep the Owls relatively in the game.
Much like the first quarter, however, the Owls would lose in the final tally, being outscored 22- 15 in the third quarter and entering the last 10 minutes of their season trailing 45-26, a very tough deficit to overcome. While Keene State fought hard to the end, their efforts came up short, eliminating them from the LEC Tournament and ending their season.
The Owls did have some positives despite the tough loss. As mentioned, Luizzi contributed much offensively for Keene State with 11 points, and sophomore forward Kenzie Durnford also tallied double-digit points with ten. Junior captain and forward Rylie Burgess led the team with eight rebounds, seven of those coming on defense.
It is the end of another season for women’s basketball, and while this season saw them make the playoffs again, the team regressed a bit in terms of conference record, going from 7-9 in the LEC a year ago to 5-11 this season. Overall, their record fell from 10-14 in 2021-22 to 7-16 in 2022-23. It should be an eventful offseason for the team, as they look to regroup for a further run in the LEC for 2023.
Ryan Goodwin can be contacted at
rgoodwin@kscequinox.com
