WBB: Little East

[7express]

Massey predictions for the games Tuesday.  I'll trade to include these when at all possible:

RIC over USM 61-56.  RIC with a 63% winning percentage.
Eastern over Dartmouth 72-61 with an 83% winning percentage
Keene over Western 65-55 with an 81% winning percentage
Boston over Plymouth 61-34 with a 98% winning percentage.

We agree on 3/4 with Eastern/Dartmouth being the only one we disagree on.

[7express]

All games at halftime or very close:

Dartmouth leads Eastern 31-25.  Live stats are down for this game
Western leads Keene 30-18.  Western started the game up 12-0.   Colleen Cosker has 11 points for Western, Jovan Kingwood & Amanda Petrow each have 6 to lead Keene.
Boston leads Plymouth 22-16.   Plymouth shooting just 8-32, but started the game up 8-0 and started the game 4-10.  Since that start, they are just 4-22.  DeAsia Lawrence, Kait Deering and Savannah Miller each have 4 for Plymouth; Olivia Murphy has 7 to lead the Beacons.  Kirsten Morrison hasn't appeared in the game yet.
RIC clubbing USM 30-11.  No Knight once again for USM, who are shooting just 10%.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern loses tonight  to UMD by 9 on 13-27 (48%) FT shooting
Also the referees were from outer space tonight, a joke!!

[AllStar]

Keene State with a beyond inept performance against Western Connecticut, scoring just 39 points and looking totally confused on offense.  Several steps back in this game.

[7express]

These are some ugly games this evening:
USM finished with 31, RIC with 47 (after having 30 at halftime), Boston with 42, Plymouth with 46, Keene finished with 39.  Western, with only 53 points which isn't very good in itself was the conferences 3rd highest scoring team this evening after Eastern's 65 & Dartmouth's 74.

Now that all are final, let's get to the results:
Dartmouth gets that huge win over Eastern 74-65.  Jill Ritrosky had 22 points & 10 rebounds for Eastern, who shot 50% from the floor, but turned the ball over 16 seconds.  Meghan Ronaghan lead Dartmouth with 27 points on 11-16 shooting.
RIC over USM 47-31.  Neither team had a player in double figures.  Erin McNamera lead the Huskies with 7; Vandell Andrade had 9 points & 12 rebounds for RIC.  USM finished shooting 22.9% for the game (11-48), but finished the first half with only 11 points on 10% shooting (3-30) in the first half.
Keene loses back to back at home, today to Western 53-39.  Jovan Kingwood was the lone Owl in double figures as she finished with 10; Sciarra Brandt had 11 points & 12 rebounds for RIC while Colleen Casker lead the team with 12 points.
Plymouth gets their first LEC win since February 4, 2012 with a 46-42 win @ Boston.  You hear that sound??  If you do, it's the sound of the Beacons bandwagon careening over the cliff into the Boston Harbor as Allstar is right, this team cannot score the basketball.  Olivia Murphy had a game high 13 for Boston, while DeAsia Lawrence had 12 for Plymouth and Kait Deering chipped in 9 for Plymouth.  Boston had the ball down 3 with 13 seconds to play, but Courtney Mattingly called timeout even though the Beacons had a 3-2 fast break going.  After the timeout, Lauren Perra got off a contested 3 from the corner which she airballed, Tiffany Lewis grabbed the rebound, got fouled, and made 1/2 free throws to seal coach Liz Stich's first career LEC victory, congratulations!  No matter how the men do, that's going to be a fun ride back home tonight.  Have to wonder, what happens if Mattingly doesn't call the timeout there though.  Andrea Suffredini had a 3-2 break going and she made the basket as the timeout was being called.  13 seconds is an ETERNITY in basketball so it's not like you needed the 3 and with the fast break it was even dumber.  I know Plymouth is an improving team, and had Dartmouth on the ropes there for the whole game, but at home that is a terrible loss.

2-2 on the day: 47-28 LEC; 67-22 me.

Standings:
1) Eastern 10-4 (3-1)
1) RIC 9-5 (3-1)
1) Western 8-5 (3-1)
4) USM 9-5 (2-2)
4) Dartmouth 8-5 (2-2)
6) Plymouth 2-10 (1-3)
6) Boston 8-5 (1-3)
6) Keene 8-5 (1-3)

Schedule:
Thursday, January 16:
Boston @ Bridgewater 5:30 PM
MCLA @ Western 5:30 PM

Saturday, January 18:
Western @ Boston 1 PM
Keene @ Dartmouth 1 PM
RIC @ Plymouth 1 PM
USM @ Eastern 1 PM

[AllStar]

Congratulations to Plymouth State for winning tonight at UMass-Boston.  It is never fun to lose games, as most players and fans can attest to, so it is nice to see the Panthers enjoy a conference win tonight.

[amh63]

ECSU....caught the last part of the Warriors game last night after watching the Amherst-Wesleyan contest.  Strange that  both games ended in a LOOOONG march to the foul line when the games were essentially over.  Others tell me that coaches put on the press, foul to get the ball back, etc.  even when a win is not available....in order to teach their players what to do for the next game.  There is truth in that point, but it is boring to watch, imo.
Oh yes...congrats to the Warriors.....still keeping an eye on your team....maybe there will be a rematch game between our schools in the post-season...in LeFrak of course   One can only wish on such things.

[ECSUalum]

amh63,
Thanks, Yes I actually watched the second half of the Eastern vs UMD womens game.  Still a bit young but has potential to really make a noise I think next year.
Would be nice to be able to meet the LJs again...always hope

[amh63]

ECSU.....lost my brains....senior moment.  My posted comment earlier was in reference to MBB.  How did I get over to this WBB board.  Thanks for the understanding...probably caused you to shake your head a bit.
Anyway....maybe both teams will meet in the post-season somewhere.

[7express]

2 LEC vs. MASCAC games on the slate for Thursday:

Boston 43 @ Bridgewater 65.
Bridgewater has won the last 2 meetings by 14 & 10 points.  Boston's in free fall mode, and in their 3 game losing streak are averaging just over 41 points per game (41.3 ppg).
MCLA 52 @ Western 59.
Last year, MCLA was 8-5 going into their match at home against Western, lost 62-48, and finished the season......8-17 meaning they didn't win a single game after that West Conn loss.  This year isn't much better for the Trailblazers.  They are 4-10 so far in 13-14 with their 4 wins vs. Green Mount (1-8), Becker (5-8), Fisher (non-d3 institution NAIA school), and Southern Vermont (4-10).  Western has won 4 straight after a 5 game losing streak, and will push that streak to 5. 

[Old Man]

I have heard from reliable sources that last nights win for Kim Rybczy was her 300th career win!!!  She is a class act as well as a GREAT PERSON!!  Very thoughtful of those at WCSU  as well as anyone she meets!  CONGRATS TO YOU AND MANY MORE except against KSU.

OM

[7express]

Thursday results:

Boston beats Bridgewater 64-39. It's nice the Beacons can win OOC games, can they win LEC games???  Remains to be seen.  Nice performance after 3 straight clunkers.  Jenna Williamson (RIC coach Kara Williamson's sister btw for useless info) lead Bridgewater with 11; Olivia Murphy had 19 points and 24 rebounds for the Beacons who were without the services of Kirsten Morrison once again.  Andrea Suffredini also put up a double-double: 17 points and 10 assists.  I'll be at the Clark Athletic Center Saturday afternoon, I'll see if I can find any info.
Western over MCLA 65-46.  Michaela Silver lead the Trailblazers with 16 points who finished shooting just 26.1% overall.  Kerri Stolle lead Western with 21 points & 10 rebounds, Maggie Eberhardt has 12 points off the bench and Sciarra Brandt was 2 assists shy of a triple double: 11 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists.

49-28 LEC; 67-23 me

Saturday schedule:
Keene @ Dartmouth
Western @ Dartmouth
USM @ Eastern
RIC @ Plymouth.  I'd say Western/Boston is the best game.  None of them are "must watches" though.  Good weekend to get caught up on errands and stuff so you can watch the football games Sunday.

[7express]

Sat predictions:

Keene 54 @ Dartmouth 63.
Dartmouth rebounded with a win vs Eastern, Keene need to get back in track, but will be tough at Dartmouth.
Western 63 @ Bostonn45.
Boston offense is hit or miss, but verses Western's defense will be tough to score against.
USM 53 @ Eastern 66.
Not good on the road, and probably still without Knight.
RIC 74 @ Plymouth 55.
Might be playing the best if any team in the conference.

[7express]

Boston leads at halftime 31-19.  Only a Maggie Eberhardt 3 at the buzzer and about 40 missed Beacons free throws is preventing this from being a total rout.  Andrea Suffradini and Olivia Murphy each have 2 fouls which bodes well for the Colonials.  Kirsten Morrison is in uniform but hasn't appeared on the court yet.  If this was hockey it looks like she would be a "healthy scratch."

In other halftime scores Dartmouth up 37-34, RIC 28-17, and Eastern 35-22

[7express]

Beacons get a dominating and laughable 66-40 win over Western.  Olivia Murphy sat most of the second half and the Beacons were up by as many as 28.  Suffradini had a monster game, and the Beacons got contributions all around from players such as Katrina Edwards, Chantel Edwards, and Mallory Jordan, so at least today they weren't a 2 person team.   I have recovered the Beacons bandwagon from the bottom of the Boston Harbor and am currently back driving it.  Wish their game Tuesday vs the Corsairs was in Dartmouth instead of Boston.  Andrea Suffredini vs Kelsey Garrity and Olivia Murphy vs Erika Bornemann, 2 of the 3 best guards and bigs in the conference going up against each other.