Keene State Women’s Basketball came back after dropping the lead in a 56-52 win over the University of Massachusetts-Boston (UMass Boston) Beacons on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The Owls came into this game with a 12-5 record on the season, and having won the previous game against UMass Dartmouth 50-39. The Beacons were coming into this game with an 11-6 season record and had won their previous game against Vermont State University. Both teams were looking to extend their winning streak and record for the season.
The first quarter started off slow for KSC, scoring only three points, made by junior guard Brynn Rautiola, whereas the Beacons scored on three of their four possessions to make it 7-3. The Owls got back into the fight by scoring 14 points over the course of the next seven minutes of the first. The first quarter ended with KSC having an eight-point lead.
The scoring opened up for KSC as Rautiola scored a layup off a steal, shortly followed by another steal, this time by sophomore guard Kiley Bundy. This led to a three-pointer by junior guard Angel Pillsbury to extend the lead to 13. The rest of the second quarter was a majority of back-and-forth scoring between both sides, but the Owls held the advantage as the score was 28-15 going into the half.
The Beacons surged throughout the third quarter, outscoring KSC 22-8 and taking back the lead. While they cut the lead down to just five, the Owls put it back up to eight, but the pressure that UMass was putting on did not stop. They scored seven points to bring the lead to just one point, having a four point lead with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter. Owl and first-year forward Bella Schultz-Mitchell managed to convert an and-one to bring the game to just one score.
The fourth quarter saw UMass score on their first possession, but the Owls responded back three from Bundy and from senior guard Valerie Luizzi to make it 42-39 with eight minutes remaining. Another series of scores had KSC go up by 8 two minutes later. With 2:39 left in the game, the Beacons scored on their next three possessions to pull within one score with just 45 seconds left. Luizzi played a big role in the win, making a free throw and then stealing the ball in the following UMass possession, leading to Rautiola making a pair of free throws to increase the lead with 11 seconds left. The Beacons could not get a clean shot off for the remainder, and it gave the Owls the victory.
Keene State returns home for its next game against Vermont State University on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 5:30 pm. UMass Boston will head on the road to play at the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 5:30 pm.
Nathan Eliopoulos can be contacted at
neliopoulos@kscequinox.com
