WBB: Little East

[7express]

UMass-Dartmouth squeaks by Framingham State 51-48.  Not impressive.

You got that right.  I think Dartmouth finished stuck on 51 for quite a while too.  I checked out the live stats when I was in class, and I think at the 7:21 mark, Dartmouth had 45 or 46 points.

[7express]

Thursday's result:

Dartmouth edges by Framingham 51-48.  Woof!  Meghan Ronaghan had a game high 21 for Dartmouth; Carlee Putnam had 11 for the Rams off the bench.  Those were your only 2 double digit scorers in the game.  Erika Bornemann had 18 rebounds, but only 7 points for the Corsairs.  Teams finished shooting a combined 31.3% (42-134), and had almost as many combined turnovers (37) than total field goals (42).  Not impressive for Dartmouth.  They were up 51-40 with 55 seconds left to play, yet the Rams had 2 attempts at the game-tying 3 pointer in the final seconds.

50-28 LEC; 75-24 overall.  Only 9 more non conference games left, so the conference is going to finish with a pretty good record, and that's with Plymouth (2-12) included as well.

Saturday schedule:
USM @ Western
Eastern @ RIC
Boston @ Keene
Plymouth @ Dartmouth.  Eastern/RIC is by far the game of the day, and probably the game of the year.  I'll be in Providence for that double header on Saturday.

[7express]

Sat predictions:

USM 65 @ Western 44.
USM had been struggling along, before they got 2 wins Tuesday.  1 was a big win over Plymouth, the other was the return of Rebecca Knight.  USM beat them 67-31 in December.  Western may score a few more points this time around, but Western is averaging 49.7 ppg in 6 LEC contests with is good for 7th in the conference ahead of only Plymouth's 41 per game and USM gives up only 51 ppg, good for second in the conference behind only RIC's 44.2 per game.  If you can't score, you can't win, simple as that, and Western cannot put points on the board.
Eastern 58 @ RIC 62.
The game of the year in the conference as the winner probably ends up winning the conference since these are clearly the 2 best teams from what I've seen so far this year.  Eastern won the first meeting 69-67 in overtime after a Jordyn Nappi jumper sent it to overtime and a Danyelle Rodriguez late 3 pointer won it for the Warriors.  Matchup of the conferences #1 scoring offense (Eastern at 67.7 per game) vs. the conferences #1 scoring defense (RIC at 44.2 per game).  I know it's a cliché, but whatever style wins out, wins this.  If this gets above 120 total points, Eastern has the advantage, if this is a slow down game in the 40's or 50's that barely breaks 100 total points, RIC definitely has the advantage there.  RIC is at home, and have been playing GREAT since their 2-3 start to the season, I'll take the Anchorwomen to take control of the conference race, but I don't expect them to be finished with each other for this season.
Boston 67 @ Keene 64.
Boston's last 2 conference road games they are averaging 38.5 points, and in their last 5 road games are only averaging 47.2 points per game.  Keene has started to fall down the cliff after a hot start.  Being at home helps, and also staying close with Eastern helps, but I don't think the Owls match up well with the Beacons.  Kirsten Morrison & Olivia Murphy combined for 39 points & 22 rebounds in that 66-56 Beacons win in December, while the Owls best player from that game, Courtney Roberts (15 points & 10 rebounds) is currently out injured.
Plymouth 37 @ Dartmouth 69.
Dartmouth won 52-48 in December, but were down 9 with under 8 minutes to go before rallying to win late.  This is a totally different team at home in the friendly confines of the Tripp Athletic Center than they are on the road, so they should cruise to a victory.  Anything less than a 15 point win, and I'll start to worry.

Massey ratings:
RIC 64-56 (75%)
USM 55-48 (70%)
Keene 58-56 (54%)
Dartmouth 69-53 (93%)

[7express]

USM up 30-19, Dartmouth 30-15, Boston 22-19, RIC leads 32-25, all at or near the half.  Cara Paladino is killing Eastern on pick and rolls to the basket.  Vandell Andrade and Paladino with 2 fouls for RIC, Jill Ritrosky with 2 for Eastern.

[7express]

Western leads by 1 under 2 minutes to play, an Boston trails by 4 under 3 minutes left.  RIC wins 61-57 to take control of the conference and Dartmouth clobbers Plymouth.  Full results coming later.

[AllStar]

RIC 61-57
KSC 60-56
USM 57-55
UMD 85-45

[7express]

RIC 61-57
KSC 60-56
USM 57-55
UMD 85-45

As expected, the biggest blowout was Plymouth/Dartmouth.  Nice to see Keene bounce back with a much needed W.  Surprised the Western game was that close.  I heard they actually tied it up with about 10 seconds to play, but unfortunately fouled USM which gave them 2 free throws for the win.  The person I heard that from said it was the best game they've played all season, let's see if they can build off it.

[7express]

Saturday results:

USM survives Western 57-55.  Megan Pelletier had 22 points & 13 rebounds, and Erin McNamera had 13 points for the Huskies, who are starting to reach that point in the season where their bench becomes invisible: 44 total minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 field goals made on 8 field goal attempts.  When Rebecca Knight goes back to the lineup, that stat line will be even worse.  Maggie Eberhardt had 17 for Western.  Western was down 3 before a Caroline Brasa 3 (Western's 7th made of the game after only making 1 on 2 attempts Wednesday night) tied the game at 55 with 10 seconds left, however, Chelsea Mone fouled Taylor Flood on an offensive rebound putback with 2 seconds to go in the game, and Flood knocked down both free throws for the win.
Dartmouth clubs Plymouth 85-45.  Krystin Corliss had 13 for the Panthers; Ashley Brown had 16 off the bench to lead the Corsairs who placed 4 in double figures.  Nothing else to see from that beating.
RIC takes control of the conference with a 61-57 win over Eastern.  Jordyn Nappi lead all scorers with 22 (16 in the second half) to lead Eastern.  Vandell Andrade had 18 points (12 in the second half) and 9 rebounds, while Cara Paladino chipped in 15.  2 other teams with severe depth issues like USM, but RIC was able to manage theirs better.  Andrade got hit with her second foul at about the 14:00 mark, so she sat the rest of the half after 6 quick points got RIC on the scoreboard and then even in the lead.  Eastern lead as much as 5-0 and 7-2.  When Andrade went out it was 10-7 RIC.    Eastern was still in the game only down 18-13 at the 8:45 mark before Jill Ristrosky picked up her second foul and had to go to the bench.  With her on the bench, Paladino and Michelle Lagaritta exploited Eastern's now weakness in the front court with a bunch of pick and rolls to the basket Eastern couldn't pick up and defend.  With her out, RIC went on a 12-6 run the last 6 minutes to jump out 11, and the teams for the most part traded baskets with a Taylor McBride jumper getting Eastern to within 7 at the break.  In the second half, Andrade just exploded both on the scoreboard and on the boards.    An Andrade layup at 14:10 made the score 42-31, but a 9-2 run the next 3 minutes made it 44-40.  After a RIC timeout, Steph Prusko nailed a 3 pointer from the left corner to start an 11-4  run to go back up 11 with 6:30 to play, and Eastern got it no closer than 4 points until Nappi's meaningless 3 pointer at the buzzer.  She also scored Eastern's last 11 points.
Keene over Boston 60-56.  Carly Kiernan had a game high 18 points off the bench to lead the Owls who also got 13 points off the bench from Jovan Kingwood and 6 points & 10 rebounds from Stephanie D'Annolfo.  The Beacons were lead by Kirsten Morrison's 16 points and who got nothing from Olivia Murphy (2-7 shooting, 7 rebounds, 8 points).  A good win by Keene who had suffered a couple of close road losses in recent games.

50-28 LEC; 78-25 overall

Standings:
1) RIC 6-1 (12-5)
2) 5-2 (12-5)
3) USM 4-3 (11-6)
3) Dartmouth 4-3 (11-6)
5) Boston 3-4 (11-6)
5) Western 3-4 (9-8)
7) Keene 2-5 (9-7)
8) Plymouth 1-6 (2-13).  USM beat Dartmouth & Boston beat Western, so those 2 teams would be the higher seed if the tournament started tomorrow, and that's how I'll rank them.

Schedule:
Tuesday, January 28:
Keene @ Plymouth 5:30 PM
Eastern @ Western 5:30 PM
Dartmouth @ RIC 5:30 PM
Boston @ USM 5:30 PM.  Dartmouth/RIC looks like the best game though I'd like it a lot better if it was @ Dartmouth instead.

Thursday, January 30:
Daniel Webster @ Keene State 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 1:
RIC @ Boston 1 PM
Western @ Dartmouth 1 PM
Plymouth @ Eastern 1 PM
USM @ Keene 1 PM.  I'd say Keene/USM looks like the best game that day.

[7express]

Tuesday schedule:

Keene 74 @ Plymouth 58.
Plymouth may stay close for a half, but this is a game Keene can't afford to lose....and they won't.
Eastern 64 @ Western 58.
Another one that will probably be close.  Eastern did a good job on the conference's #1 scoring defense scoring 57 points on RIC, so they should be able to match that against Western.  Western played a great second half vs. USM, and maybe that's a turnaround the last 4 weeks of the season, but this is a team that just cannot score the basketball.  As long as Eastern can get above 50, and I think they will, they'll win.
Dartmouth 56 @ RIC 67.
Probably the best game of the day.  Nobody has been able to stop Vandell Andrade this year, but Dartmouth has the height to make her and Cara Paladino a non factor.  Dartmouth is terrible on the road, so I still think RIC gets the win even with an off night from Andrade & Paladino.
Boston 53 @ USM 69.
Another one that might be close for a half.  Boston played them competitively in 2 games last year when USM lost once the whole season, and there no where as good as they are this year.  Boston may beat them in a couple weeks down in Boston, but I'll take the Huskies at home in Maine.

Massey ratings:
RIC 73-58 93%
Eastern 59-52 69%
USM 59-46 79%
Keene 64-49 91%

[7express]

7express's annual LEC midseason report card.  Since Saturday concluded conference game #7, that means we are officially halfway through season.  Man, where does the time go??  Seems like just 2 days ago was the first practice, and just yesterday was the first game, and now we only have 7/8/9 games left in the regular season.  With that out of the way, let's go through the first half of the season, some storylines to watch, and games to watch the rest of the year:

1) RIC 6-1 (12-5)
2) 5-2 (12-5)
3) USM 4-3 (11-6)
3) Dartmouth 4-3 (11-6)
5) Boston 3-4 (11-6)
5) Western 3-4 (9-8)
7) Keene 2-5 (9-7)
8) Plymouth 1-6 (2-13)
USM beat Dartmouth so USM would get the 3 seed and Dartmouth the 4.  Likewise, Boston beat Western, so the Beacons would get the 5 seed while the Colonials would have the 6 seed.  Let's go through some awards & storylines, starting with some games to watch that could decide the conference:
Dartmouth @ RIC, Tuesday, January 28
USM @ Dartmouth, Saturday, February 8
Boston @ Dartmouth, Tuesday, February 11
Dartmouth @ Eastern, Saturday, February 15
RIC @ USM, Saturday, January 15
USM @ Boston, Tuesday, February 18
RIC @ Dartmouth, Tuesday, February 18
Eastern @ USM, Saturday, February 22.

Player of the year:
Vandell Andrade- RIC.  A double-double machine this year.

First team selections:
Andrade
Jill Ritrosky- Eastern
Jordyn Nappi- Eastern
Erika Bornemann- Dartmouth
Erin McNamera- USM
Olivia Murphy- Boston

Rookie if the year:
Jordyn Nappi- Eastern.  Has pretty much already wrapped up the award.  One of the best clutch shooters in the league, not many others I'd rather want taking the last shot.  Not just freshmen player but ANY player in the league.

All freshmen team:
Nappi
Ashley Brown-Dartmouth
Meghan Ronaghan- Dartmouth
Stephanie D'Annolfo- Keene
Amanda Petrow-Keene
Colleen Cosker- Western.

Team with the most to gain-contenders division (team in 4th or better):
USM.  Probably the best chance to unseat RIC/Eastern at the top.  Are getting healthy with Rebecca Knight back, and have games in February at home vs. Eastern & RIC on back to back Saturday's
Team with the most to gain non-contenders division (team in 5th or worse):
Boston.  Have 2 games vs. USM who they only trail by a game.  Also have home games in February vs. Eastern & RIC.
Team with the most to lose contenders division:
RIC.  Currently lead the conference, but still have yet to play Dartmouth meaning they get them twice in the final 7 games, and also have road games @ Boston & @ USM to come.
Team with the most to close non-contenders division:
Western.  They are currently closer to last (2 games up on Plymouth) than first (3 games behind RIC).  They haven't finished lower than 4th since the 2006-07 season, but with 2 games still to come vs. Eastern & road games left @ Dartmouth and @ RIC, that streak could be coming to an abrupt end this season.

NCAA teams.  Right now I say only the winner gets in.  USM & Dartmouth have been too inconsistent to make a dent in the NCAA discussion this year, and both RIC & Eastern lost to all the good teams they played OOC which hurts them, and the more Bowdoin loses in the NESCAC, the more that hurts RIC.  However, since they're done with each other, both of them could theoretically win out to the LEC championship game, and in that case I think we would see both of them in the field.   

[7express]

Western leads Eastern 28-16 at half.  Eastern is playing AWFUL basketball, but are getting totally hosed by the zebras out there.   Not excusing their poor play because they look worse than Plymouth out there, but they definitely aren't getting help from the officials.

Keene 29-28, USM 28-21, and RIC 32-28 are the other leaders at the half.

[7express]

Eastern finishes a dreadful 25 point loss scoring just 36 points.  I'm starting to think their easy first half schedule inflated their record a bit.  After seeing 2 straight awful performances from them in person and a bad performance on-line vs Keene I don't think their as good as I thought they were 4 days ago.

RIC clubbed Dartmouth and Keene and USM both won close contests.  Full results later tonight.

[7express]

Nice around the region article on Eastern, detailing the rebounding from the off-court incident that got Piper Chapman, and Jess Blodgett among others suspended 2 January's ago, and how they've dealt with injuries to Kristina Forsman (out for the year with an ACL injury) and Shannon McCourt with a dislocated shoulder (returned to the lineup tonight @ Western).

http://d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-region/east-northeast/2013-14/eastern-connecticut-warriors-press-on

[AllStar]

Eastern finishes a dreadful 25 point loss scoring just 36 points.  I'm starting to think their easy first half schedule inflated their record a bit.  After seeing 2 straight awful performances from them in person and a bad performance on-line vs Keene I don't think their as good as I thought they were 4 days ago.

RIC clubbed Dartmouth and Keene and USM both won close contests.  Full results later tonight.

I'm not sure any of the teams in the conference are very good to be honest.  Just like the men, this year is lacking.  I think many of these teams are just beating up on each other because they are all mediocre or worse.

[7express]

Tuesday results:

Keene 60-57 over Plymouth.  Not pretty, but it's a road win, and moves them to 3-5 in the conference a game behind Dartmouth & Western at 4-4.  DeAsia Lawrence had 16 to lead Plymouth, Christian Wojtas had a game high 18 for the Owls, while Carly Kiernan had 15.
RIC clubbed Dartmouth 72-43.  Megan Ronaghan and Erika Bornemann each had 13 for the Corsairs, who were without the services of PG Kelsey Garrity, hopefully she's not injured.  Vandell Andrade had 12 points & 14 rebounds, while Alex Moore lead the team with 15 points.  After it was 32-28 at halftime, the Anchorwomen outscored the Corsairs 40-15 in the stanza, holding the Corsairs to 23.8% shooting, and 14 turnovers compared to only 5 made field goals.
Western gets the first battle of Connecticut, 61-36 over Eastern.  Jordyn Nappi was the lone Warrior in double figures with 10 points, while Colleen Casker had a game high 15 for Western.  I understand, the Feldman arena is a tough place to play and all with the depth perception and all, it's gotta be incredibly difficult to shoot on the baskets (I've played pick up games with the floor down, so I know about that depth perception) but Eastern was horrible.  Couldn't shoot (25.5%) and turned the ball over way to much (24 turnovers).  Not going to win you games.  That's now 3 subpar games for them dating back to the Keene game last Wednesday.  They have the perfect medication to fix that with the Panthers coming in Saturday, but they did to get back to that play they had coming into the Keene game.  But, let's see why I'm worried about the Warriors.  Take a look at their 8 LEC games so far: they played RIC twice, losing by 4, but were down by multiple possessions the entire second half, and winning in overtime by 2 on a last second 3 pointer by a person who doesn't play very often (Danyelle Rodriguez).  They played both USM & Boston at home meaning they go on the road to those teams in February.  Both are better at home than on the road anyways, but they beat Boston when the Beacons had their scoring draught when they could barely crack 45, and they beat the Huskies minus Rebecca Knight who is back and in the lineup.  Outside of the last 5 minutes or so, they looked terrible against keene, and that game was at home meaning they have to go to Keene later.  Their "signature" road game pre RIC was @ Dartmouth which was their only loss prior to the RIC setback.  It helps they do get the Corsairs in Willimantic, but they have a some really tough road games in February.  I'm not counting them out, but I'm a lot less confident today than I was 4 days ago.
USM over Boston 55-47.  Kirsten Morrison (12 points) & Olivia Murphy (13 points) had 25 of the Beacons 47 total points and Murphy grabbed 15 rebounds.  Megan Pelletier had 11 points, and Rebecca Knight had 12 points to lead USM in her first game back in the lineup since coming back from injury.  Erin McNamera did have 6 assists, but scored only 8 points, and shot 3-13 from the field including 0-7 from 3.

50-28 LEC; 81-26 overall.

Standings:
1) RIC 7-1 (13-5)
2) Eastern 5-3 (12-6)
2) USM 5-3 (12-6)
4) Western 4-4 (10-8)
4) Dartmouth 4-4 (11-7)
6) Keene 3-5 (10-7)
6) Boston 3-5 (11-7)
8) Plymouth 1-6 (2-14)
Tiebreakers: Eastern is 1-0 vs. USM, and Western is 1-0 vs. Dartmouth, so those are settled.  Keene is 1-0 vs. USM, while Boston is 0-1 vs. USM, so Keene gets the tiebreaker (since they finished 1-1 against each other).

Next game:
Daniel Webster @ Keene State January 30 7 PM

Next conference games:
All on February 1: Western @ Dartmouth, Plymouth @ Eastern, USM @ Keene, RIC @ Boston all starting at 1 PM.