WBB: Little East

[7express]

Sat Results:

USM runs over Western 67-31.  Western finished a dismal 18% from the floor and 1-20 from 3 point range.  After finishing 0-16 from 3 vs. New Paltz, they are 1-36 (2.8%) from 3 over the last 2 games.  As it is with this team when they make 3's they can beat anyone, when they can't hit them, they'll probably lose to anyone.  Erin McNamera (12 points) and Rebecca Knight (18) would have outscored Western on their own, if not for a Kerri Stolle layup with 5 seconds left which pushed Western's total not only above 30, but above Knight's & McNamera's total.  Western never lead in the game, and trailed by as much as 38.  Western's 31 points is the lowest they've scored since the 38 they put up on RIC in a 66-38 loss on February 14, 2012.
Boston comeback win vs. Keene 66-56.  The Beacons outscored the Owls 36-25 in the second half after trailing 31-30 at the break.  Courtney Roberts lead the Owls with 15 points, Christan Wojtas had 14 points (though only 3 in the second half), and Kelsey Cognetta had 8 points and 9 assists for the Owls. For the Beacons, their front court former rookies of the years in Kirtsen Morrison & Olivia Murphy contributed double doubles in the win: Morrison had 12 points and 10 rebounds, her best game of the season since coming back from volleyball, and Murphy had a 27-12 line with 27 shots from the floor.  It wasn't a 40 point win, but I'm definitely kicking myself for picking the Owls.
Dartmouth survives Plymouth 52-48.  The best game the Panthers have played in over a year, but it just wasn't quite good enough.  After having a 9 point lead (45-36) at 7:48, Dartmouth outscored them 17-3 the rest of the way to sneak out the back door with a win.  Not pretty, but in conference road games you'll take them any way you get them, it's not gymnastics or synchronized swimming with style points.  Erika Bornemann had 17 points in her first game back from illness, and Megan Ronaghan had 12 points and 9 rebounds.  For Plymouth Taylor Perry (13 points) and krystin Corliss (10 points) were your double digit scorers, and Tiffany Lewis had 10 rebounds and 6 points.  Plymouth shattered their field goal average with 19 made (averaged 14.4 made field goals coming in), though after hitting 12 in the first half, they only had 7 in the second.
Eastern in overtime over RIC 69-67.  Stephanie Prusko had 14 points to lead RIC, but airballed a 3 at the end of regulation.  Jill Ritrosky & Shannon McCourt each had 15 for Eastern and Ritrosky pulled down 16 rebounds to go with her 15 points.  Jordyn Nappi chipped in 12 for Eastern, as well as the jumper which forced overtime.  Danyelle Rodriguez hit a game-winning 3 pointer with 3 seconds left.

26-21 LEC; 38-14 me

Standings:
1) Boston 5-1 (1-0)
1) Eastern 5-3 (1-0)
1) Dartmouth 5-3 (1-1)
4) Keene 4-3 (1-1)
4) USM 5-3 (1-1)
6) Western 4-3 (0-1)
6) RIC 3-4 (0-1)
6) Plymouth 0-6 (0-1)

Schedule:
Tuesday, December 10:
Salve @ RIC 5:30 PM
J&W @ Dartmouth 7 PM

Upcoming conference schedule:
Saturday, December 14:
Boston @ RIC 1 PM
Saturday, January 4:
Eastern @ Plymouth 1 PM
Thursday, January 9:
Dartmouth @ Western 5:30 PM.  That'll take each team up to 2 conference games played when LEC play resumes in full swing Saturday, January 11

[7express]

Tuesday schedule:

Salve 65 @ RIC 69
Both teams are struggling so far in the early going, with Salve at 3-3 overall and 0-2 against LEC teams, while RIC is 3-4 overall and 0-2 against Commonwealth Coast Conference teams.  Both of RIC's games against CCC opponents were true road games, while Salve played 1 home game and 1 neutral court game vs. the LEC.  RIC's games were closer than Salve's was, plus they are at home, so I'll take them.  RIC won last year in Newport 50-39.

Johnson & Wales 43 @ Dartmouth 78
J&W is 1-5, with their only win against 0-7 Mount St. Mary.  The J&W offense is still a work in process, having averaged only 44.2 ppg this year, highest total output is 58, have been held below 40 in 3 of 6 games, and have been held to 44 or less in 4 of their 5 losses.  Dartmouth has been struggling, but they should break out.  J&W lost by 28 last year at home, and wouldn't be surprised if this year was about the same margin. 

[7express]

Tuesday results:

RIC over Salve 76-53.  Brianna Del Valle had 16 points & 14 rebounds, while Meaghan Harden had 16 points to lead the Seahawks.  Balanced scoring for the Anchorwoman as Cara Paladino lead them with 20 points, but Vandell Andrade had 18 points & 10 rebounds, Steph Prusko had 17 points & Danielle Leblanc had 10 points off the bench in what I think was the first game she ever appeared off the bench in her college career.
As expected Dartmouth rolls J&W 91-50.  Savannah Kresge lead the Wildcats with 13 points off the bench and D'Ana Rolle chipped in 11.  For Dartmouth Beth Castantini lead them in scoring with 14.  Amanda Van Voorhis was able to get a lot of minutes from her club, asMeghan Ronaghan played the most minutes with only 21, everyone played at least 6 minutes, and of the 14 players that played 12 of the 14 played double digit minutes.  Not much else to see here.

28-21 LEC; 40-14 me

Thursday schedule: Salem State @ Plymouth 5:30
Boston @ Westfield State 7.  I'll be back tomorrow night with predictions after I finish my paper.

[7express]

Thursday schedule:

Salem 67 @ Plymouth 62.
Plymouth has been playing very well the last couple of games losing a close game to Colby-Sawyer, and blowing a 9 point second half lead to Dartmouth in the conference opener.  Salem is 3-5 and has lost 4 of their last 5 games.  Tufts and Emmanuel are offensive juggernauts compared to Plymouth, but Salem has given up 80+ points each of it's last 2 games and in 3 of their 5 losses this year the opponent has cracked 80 points with another (Endicott) just missing the mark finishing with 79.  They are 0-1 against the LEC losing @ Dartmouth by 3 before Thanksgiving, and this is Plymouth's 1 and only game against the MASCAC this year.  Salem won 80-56 in Salem, MA last year.

Boston 65 @ Westfield 58.
The Owls are already 0-2 against the LEC this season losing to 2 teams predicted to finish above Boston in the preseason standings, however this is the first game vs. an LEC opponent on the Owls home court.  Boston has won 4 straight after starting 1-1 and is coming off an impressive victory over Keene State in their LEC opener.  Boston won at home 55-51 last season.

[7express]

Thursday results:

Salem 57-54 over Plymouth.  I say Plymouth gets their first win Saturday.  They've been oh so close the last couple games.  Each team only had 1 double digit scorer: Taylor Perry had 21 for the Panthers while Bry Bennett had 9.  Rachel Carter had a game high 24 points and a game high 14 rebounds for the Vikings, with 16 of her 24 points coming from the free throw line. 
Boston clobbers Westfield 72-49.  I really like this team.  Olivia Murphy is definitely an MVP candidate for them.  They still turn the ball over too many times as they had about 7 trillion turnovers (they actually only got credited for 30, feels like a lot more though), but when you shoot almost 47% from the floor and hold the opponent to just over 30% and just over 10% from 3, you'll win a lot of games.  Not many teams in the conference can match the Beacons pairing of Murphy & Kirsten Morrison in the frontcourt (maybe Dartmouth??) but that's what makes them dangerous.  If they can cut down on turnovers they'd be a legit threat to win the conference and or conference tournament.  Jen Ashton lead Westfield with 14 while Gaby Felix chipped in 10 for the Owls.  The aforementioned Beacon front court duo of Morrison & Murphy just abused the smaller Owls combined for 14-25 shooting, 41 points, 3 blocks, 5 steals, 22 rebounds, and Morrison had a lot of back cuts for easy layups. 

29-22 LEC; 42-14 me

Saturday schedule:
Boston @ RIC (conference game) 1 PM
USM @ Salem State 1 PM
Lasell @ Plymouth 1 PM

[7express]

Sat predictions:

Boston 57 @ RIC 67.
Boston is 6-1 winning their last 5, RIC comes in at 4-4 and have alternated wins and losses their last 6 games.  Since their last game was a win, if that trend continues this would be a loss.  I sang the praises of the Beacons yesterday, but winning on the road is very, very tough and RIC has completely owned them.  This maybe the best team Boston's had ever, but clearly the best team in quite a while, but on the road when they turn the ball over, I'll take the home standing Anchorwomen.  If this was @ Boston, no doubt I'd be picking the Beacons.  Boston is 1-0 beating Keene by 10, RIC is 0-1 losing in overtime to Eastern by 2.  RIC swept them last year, winning by 18 in Providence. Both are 1-1 at the end of the day.

USM 67 @ Salem 56.
This is Salem's third and final game against the LEC this year.  They are 1-1 losing a close one to Dartmouth, and winning by 3 against Plymouth on Thursday.  Plymouth is a tough road game, but Salem didn't look very good and USM is a lot better then Plymouth is.  USM won by 22 in Gorham last year.

Lasell 58 @ Plymouth 52
Plymouth has lost 30 in a row (first 7 this year and the last 23 last season), but have been playing well lately, losing their last 3 games by a combined 12 points.  The Blazers come in 5-5, but haven't played anyone of note and average 60.5 ppg.   Lasell won 69-52 last season.

[7express]

Sat games, once again I'll update these throughout the day:

RIC leads Boston 6-4 12:09.  Defensive struggle early.  Even though the Beacons lead the lead in scoring D, I have a feeling RIC will overtake them by seasons end.  RIC can win a low scoring game, Boston can't, and so far it's shaping up to be low scoring
RIC 11-9 7:58
RIC's run off 12 in a row to go up 22-9 3:41
RIC running away 46-28 1:38 left
RIC leads 26-14 at halftime
Final: RIC wins 48-30
Lasell up 9-6 13:23
Lasell 13-6 10:10
Lasell 17-8 8:16
Lasell leads at halftime 31-25
Lasell up 60-50 1:50 left
Lasell wins by 5 64-59
No live stats for USM/Plymouth only video
USM 22-15 4:35
USM leads Salem 30-18 halftime
USM won by about 25

[AllStar]

7express:

I know you drive the Beacons bandwagon but I'm not sure they are anything more than a mediocre team.  Any good team will be able to control the post players...and then you get results like today where they score 30 points.

[7express]

7express:

I know you drive the Beacons bandwagon but I'm not sure they are anything more than a mediocre team.  Any good team will be able to control the post players...and then you get results like today where they score 30 points.

That's true, I think they can make noise though.  They actually did well against Dartmouth & Eastern last year and USM isn't nearly as good this year.  Aside from those 2 or 3, everyone else is about on even footing.

[7express]

Sat results:

RIC over Boston 48-30.  Alex Moore lead RIC with 11 points, and Vandell Andrade had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Anchorwomen.  Andrea Suffredini had 11 for Boston and Olivia Murphy had a game high 12 points and a team high 12 rebounds.  Kirsten Morrison did grab 9 rebounds, but was held to 2 points on 1-10 shooting.  If you had told me Saturday morning, RIC would score only 48 points, I would've figured Boston would've routed them.  Boston finished shooting 12-60 (20%) from the field, but if you take out Murphy's 5-11, the rest of the team was only 7-49 (14.3%).
USM over Salem 63-34.  Guess it was worse then the 25 I thought earlier.  Abby Hanson lead the Huskies with 11 points on 4-5 shooting off the bench, and also grabbed 9 boards.  Rachel Carter lead Salem with 10 points.  The Salem starters shot a combined 5-28, and finished with only 16 points.  USM won the turnover battle 19-11, and got 19 points off those 19 Vikings turnovers, while the Vikings could only convert 11 Huskies turnovers into 2 points.
Lasell over Plymouth 64-59.  Alexis Chappel was one of 3 Blazers in double figures as she lead Lasell with teams highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Danielle Autencio also chipped in 11 points and 9 rebounds for Lasell.  Krystin Corliss tried to single-handidly win the game by herself for the Panthers as she scored 34 of the 59 total points on 13-25 shooting, and all 6 of the teams 3 pointers.  When you count the 6 assists she also had, Corliss had a hand in 19 of the 23 field goals the Panthers made on the afternoon.  When the seasons over, we can look back on this performance with a "WOW" factor, as Corliss either scored or assisted on over 80% of the teams total points.  I have NEVER seen that before.  I've seen players score half of a teams points, but they usually only had a handful of assists in that game.  Unfortunately, for Corliss and the Panthers, as she was hot, the rest of the team was colder than the temperature outside as the rest of the Panthers combined to shoot 10-37 for 25 points, and nobody finishing with more than 5 points.

31-23 LEC: 45-14 me

Standings:
1) Dartmouth 6-3 (1-0)
1) Eastern 5-3 (1-0)
3) Boston 6-2 (1-1)
3) USM 6-3 (1-1)
3) Keene 4-3 (1-1)
3) RIC 5-4 (1-1)
7) Western 4-3 (0-1)
7) Plymouth 0-8 (0-1)

Conference schedule:
Eastern @ Plymouth January 4, 1 PM
Dartmouth @ Western January 9, 5:30 PM.

1 more game on the slate before Christmas vacation, and that's Western @ Regis tomorrow at 6 PM

Western 52 @ Regis 58
Regis is 4-2 and have won 4 straight after starting 0-2.  However, those 4 wins come against teams that are a combined 5-28.  Western has lost 3 straight and are averaging a dismal 41.3 ppg in that 3 game losing streak.  Western is 5-48 from 3 during that stretch, and Regis is holding teams to 24.5% from behind the arc, but if you take out an 8-20 that Sage put up in the first game that percentage is down to 20.5% since that opening game.  Regis won in Danbury in January 66-61 outscoring the Colonials 29-11 the final 13:48 to steal a win.

[7express]

Sunday schedule:
Regis 59-52 over Western.  Geez, this is worse than 2011-12 when we were replacing Melissa Teel, Heather Lee & Karli Spera.  What the hell happened in the offseason that lead to so many defections.  There were ONLY 3 seniors on the team last year, and out of the 11 (I think) that finished the season last year, there's only 4 that are back, and only 3 that really play at all so something had to have happened there.   Actually, I should be happy that were actually going into vacation with a 4-4 record: we've beaten two 2-4 teams, an 0-8 team, won a game by 1 and a game in overtime, so actually we could very well be 2-6 instead of 4-4.  As for the game: Emilie Marro was 1 of 4 Regis players in double figures as she lead them with 15.  Caroline Brasa, like usually, was the only one that could points on the board for the Colonials: she had 17, nobody else had more than 8.  That and turnovers (25) were the main culprits.  Lets get a second scoring option, and cut down the turnovers, heading into the new year.  These 2 (or maybe even 3) games with Boston should be fun.  Usually I always do the "first team to _____________(x points or rebounds win)" with Boston & Western this year it'll be "first team to 50 turnovers loses."  Western is averaging 24.5 turnovers per game during this 4 game slide    Yuck!!  There still averaging 20.9 on the season which isn't terrible, but they were at 17.3 per game their 4 wins to start the year. 
Edit: Damn, just realized I was 1 missed Regis free throw away from nailing this game perfectly: both the winning team (had Regis), the winning margin (6 points) AND the total points (I had 58-52, final ended up being 59-52.  Damn made free throw  )

31-24 LEC; 46-14

That's it for the next 2 weeks in the LEC as ALL teams are off to finish up finals, go home and enjoy the holidays with their friends & families.  Games resume on Sunday the 29th and we have: Gwynedd-Mercy vs. Eastern in Las Vegas at 5 PM and Concordia-Chicago  vs. USM at 6 PM in Scottsdale, Arizona. Damn, the Eastern men are going to Orlando and the women are going to Vegas.

Hope everyone has a good holiday!

[7express]

Sunday schedule:

Gwynedd-Mercy 52 vs. Eastern 56 (@ Las Vegas).
Not the best game in Las Vegas this weekend (that title may go to Vassar vs. Amherst this weekend).  GMC is 3-5, but has won 2 straight after suffering a 5 game losing streak.  In 4 of 5 losses, GMC has given up 80+ points, luckily for the Griffins Eastern can't score as they been held to 62 points or less in 6 of 8 games.
USM 76 vs. Concordia-Chicago 65 (@ Scottsdale, AZ).
Concordia is 0-8, but that 0-8 is deceiving.  5 of their 8 losses have been by 4 points or less, so with a couple extra bounces they could very well be 5-3 or a respectable 4-4, it's not like their 0-8 losing 7 of 8 by 17+ points.  Just looking at the stats, this could very well be the best 0-8 team in history.  Transylvania/Pacific Lutheran is the other game in Scottsdale.

[7express]

Sunday results:

Eastern over GMC 67-60.  Natasha Matthews and Lauren Smith each had 13 for GMC.  Erin Brooks was one of 4 double digit scorers for Eastern with a game high 14; Jill Ritrosky, Jordyn Nappi and Kristina Forsman each had 12 while Ritrosky had 18 rebounds and Brooks had 10.
USM cruises over Concordia 75-44.  Well, Concordia certainly looked like an 0-8 team as they shot 24.1% from the floor.  Miranda Rodgers lead Concordia with 15 points.  Erin McNamera and Stephanie Gallagher also had 15 for USM.  Taylor Flood only had 2 points, but she pulled down a career high 19 rebounds for USM.  Rebecca Knight only played 9 minutes, injury??

33-24 LEC; 48-14 me

Monday schedule:
USM vs. Transy (@ Scottsdale, AZ) TBA
Husson @ Boston 4 PM
Marywood vs. Eastern (@ Las Vegas) 7 PM

USM 72 vs. Translyvania 65.
Transy defeated Pac Lutheran 63-52. 
Transy is 8-1 and on a 7 game winning streak.  They are located in the shadow of Kentucky, about a mile down the street from UK's main campus in Lexington and historic Rupp Arena.  The men's team plays an exhibition with UK @ Rupp every season.  Transy's conference is the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) with other schools located in Kentucky, Ohio & Indiana like Defiance (Denise Bierly's alma mater), Manchester, Rose-Hulman, and Anderson among others.
Husson 54 @ Boston 76.
Boston was held to 30 points last time out.  They should cruise past 30 easily and likely in the first half.
Marywood 54 vs. Eastern 62.
Marywood is 7-2, but is on a 2 game losing streak and coming off a 25 point beatdown at the hands of Amherst Sunday night.

[7express]

Monday result:

Boston over Husson 64-49.  Ho hum game for the Beacons: Olivia Murphy 19 points & 11 boards, Kirsten Morrison 10 & 9 off the bench.  Rebecca Young had a team high 14 for Husson.
Transylvania over USM 68-56.  No Rebecca Knight for the Huskies, so she must've gotten injured against Concordia.  Erin McNamera had 16 points and Gretchen Anderson taking the spot of Knight had 13 for the Huskies.  Alex McKenzie lead Transy with 18 points and 16 rebounds. 
Eastern clobbers Marywood 83-40.  No disrespect to Eastern, but you've gotta be pretty bad to give up 80+ points to an offensively challenged team like the Warriors.  This is Eastern's highest point total since they put up 117 on Johnson State in November of 2011.  Jordyn Nappi finished shooting 10-14 for 21 points; Jill Ristroky had 19 rebounds but only had 5 points.  Brittany Mang had 21 to lead Marywood and was the ONLY Marywood starter on the scoring sheet as the Eastern starters outscored the Marywood starters 53-21.

35-25 LEC; 50-15 me.

Next game Wednesday:
Keene vs. Bridgewater (@ Key Largo, FL) 4:00 PM

[ECSUalum]

Monday result:

Boston over Husson 64-49.  Ho hum game for the Beacons: Olivia Murphy 19 points & 11 boards, Kirsten Morrison 10 & 9 off the bench.  Rebecca Young had a team high 14 for Husson.
Transylvania over USM 68-56.  No Rebecca Knight for the Huskies, so she must've gotten injured against Concordia.  Erin McNamera had 16 points and Gretchen Anderson taking the spot of Knight had 13 for the Huskies.  Alex McKenzie lead Transy with 18 points and 16 rebounds. 
Eastern clobbers Marywood 83-40.  No disrespect to Eastern, but you've gotta be pretty bad to give up 80+ points to an offensively challenged team like the Warriors.  This is Eastern's highest point total since they put up 117 on Johnson State in November of 2011.  Jordyn Nappi finished shooting 10-14 for 21 points; Jill Ristroky had 19 rebounds but only had 5 points.  Brittany Mang had 21 to lead Marywood and was the ONLY Marywood starter on the scoring sheet as the Eastern starters outscored the Marywood starters 53-21.

35-25 LEC; 50-15 me.

Next game Wednesday:
Keene vs. Bridgewater (@ Key Largo, FL) 4:00 PM

7,
Excellent summary on both games as always.

Looking forward to LEC games cranking back up and the WCSU/ECSU men's game on Jan 28 at the O'Neill Center.  Looks like the Colonials are back on track