WBB: Little East

[AllStar]

The women in the LEC are having major problems in the non-conference this year.  While all of Keene and Eastern's defeats are by upper echelon teams in the NESCAC and the country, very few of the games were actually competitive.  If this never changes, neither will the 1-bid league.  The league has also suffered some dreadful losses, as evidenced tonight with Rhode Island College's defeat against Johnson and Wales.  Additionally, Southern Maine was flattened by Bowdoin and blew a game against Bates badly.  UMass Boston saw a similar fate in wasting a lead against Fitchburg State.  Overall the Beacons in general have a lousy non-conference slate anyway, as they again played Mount Ida the other night.  Also, while Plymouth's wins are no doubt good for the coach and players, they are against nobody with remotely any significance. 

To edit and further this point, I have calculated the combined overall record of the teams each team in the conference has beaten and the combined overall record of the teams each team in the conference has lost to.

Eastern Connecticut:  4-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Newbury, Framingham State, Emmanuel, Trinity (CT)):  10-18 (.357); Overall record of teams lost to (Tufts, Williams, Amherst):  19-0 (1.000)

Western Connecticut:  5-1 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Juniata, Sage, Trinity (CT), Connecticut College, Staten Island):  15-18 (.455); Overall record of team lost to (New York University):  6-0 (1.000)

UMass-Dartmouth:  6-1 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Norwich, Colby-Sawyer, WPI, Coast Guard, Salve Regina, Worcester State):  22-12 (.647); Overall record of team lost to (Bridgewater State):  5-1 (.833)

UMass-Boston:  3-2 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Lasell, Salem State, Mount Ida):  7-13 (.350); Overall record of teams lost to (Colby, Fitchburg State):  13-0 (1.000)

Keene State:  4-2 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Wellesley, Smith, Trinity (CT), RPI):  7-18 (.280); Overall record of teams lost to (Tufts, Amherst):  11-0 (1.000)

Southern Maine:  3-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Maine-Farmington, Bridgewater State, St. Joseph's (ME)):  11-7 (.611); Overall record of teams lost to (University of New England, Bates, Bowdoin):  15-6 (.714)

Rhode Island College:  1-6 overall - Overall record of team beaten (Roger Williams):  3-4 (.429); Overall record of teams lost to (Williams, Babson, Emmanuel, WPI, Bridgewater State, Johnson and Wales):  28-10 (.737)

Plymouth State:  3-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Yeshiva, Rivier, Lyndon State):  4-16 (.200); Overall record of teams lost to (Wheaton (MA), Castleton State, Colby-Sawyer):  12-3 (.800)

Conference overall record:  29-21 - Combined overall record of teams the conference has beaten:  79-106 (.427); Combined overall record of teams the conference has lost to:  109-20 (.845)

In the end, beating bad teams and losing to good ones.

[7express]

The women in the LEC are having major problems in the non-conference this year.  While all of Keene and Eastern's defeats are by upper echelon teams in the NESCAC and the country, very few of the games were actually competitive.  If this never changes, neither will the 1-bid league.  The league has also suffered some dreadful losses, as evidenced tonight with Rhode Island College's defeat against Johnson and Wales.  Additionally, Southern Maine was flattened by Bowdoin and blew a game against Bates badly.  UMass Boston saw a similar fate in wasting a lead against Fitchburg State.  Overall the Beacons in general have a lousy non-conference slate anyway, as they again played Mount Ida the other night.  Also, while Plymouth's wins are no doubt good for the coach and players, they are against nobody with remotely any significance. 

To edit and further this point, I have calculated the combined overall record of the teams each team in the conference has beaten and the combined overall record of the teams each team in the conference has lost to.

Eastern Connecticut:  4-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Newbury, Framingham State, Emmanuel, Trinity (CT)):  10-18 (.357); Overall record of teams lost to (Tufts, Williams, Amherst):  19-0 (1.000)

Western Connecticut:  5-1 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Juniata, Sage, Trinity (CT), Connecticut College, Staten Island):  15-18 (.455); Overall record of team lost to (New York University):  6-0 (1.000)

UMass-Dartmouth:  6-1 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Norwich, Colby-Sawyer, WPI, Coast Guard, Salve Regina, Worcester State):  22-12 (.647); Overall record of team lost to (Bridgewater State):  5-1 (.833)

UMass-Boston:  3-2 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Lasell, Salem State, Mount Ida):  7-13 (.350); Overall record of teams lost to (Colby, Fitchburg State):  13-0 (1.000)

Keene State:  4-2 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Wellesley, Smith, Trinity (CT), RPI):  7-18 (.280); Overall record of teams lost to (Tufts, Amherst):  11-0 (1.000)

Southern Maine:  3-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Maine-Farmington, Bridgewater State, St. Joseph's (ME)):  11-7 (.611); Overall record of teams lost to (University of New England, Bates, Bowdoin):  15-6 (.714)

Rhode Island College:  1-6 overall - Overall record of team beaten (Roger Williams):  3-4 (.429); Overall record of teams lost to (Williams, Babson, Emmanuel, WPI, Bridgewater State, Johnson and Wales):  28-10 (.737)

Plymouth State:  3-3 overall - Overall record of teams beaten (Yeshiva, Rivier, Lyndon State):  4-16 (.200); Overall record of teams lost to (Wheaton (MA), Castleton State, Colby-Sawyer):  12-3 (.800)

Conference overall record:  29-21 - Combined overall record of teams the conference has beaten:  79-106 (.427); Combined overall record of teams the conference has lost to:  109-20 (.845)

In the end, beating bad teams and losing to good ones.

And that's unfortunately is what's going to keep the league a 1 bid league this year.

[AllStar]

Saturday's conference games:

Eastern Connecticut at Rhode Island College
The Warriors, who were picked to win the league in the preseason poll, will open their conference slate on the road against struggling Rhode Island College.  After winning their first four games of the season, Eastern Connecticut is coming off getting swept in the three game gauntlet against now-No. 4 Tufts (63-51), No. 12 Williams (70-64), and at 2nd-ranked Amherst (66-51).  In the most recent game against the Jeffs, Eastern trailed 44-21 before rattling off a 27-8 surge to make it 52-48.  Amherst then reestablished control and pulled away in the final minutes.  The Warriors are led offensively by Jill Ritrosky at 15.1 ppg, but seem to use their defense to win games.  In three of their four victories, they have held the opponents to under 47 points.  Rhode Island College has struggled mightily, opening the season 1-6.  The Anchorwomen's lone win came on November 30th, a 71-61 overtime win at home against Roger Williams.  They will enter this game fresh off a bad 69-56 loss at city rival Johnson and Wales.  Nobody on RIC averages double-figures in points, and overall they have been outscored by 13 points per game and dominated on the boards by 12 rebounds per game.  The teams split the season series last year, with each time winning at home.  ECSU won in Connecticut, 69-67 in overtime and RIC won in Providence, 61-57.

UMass-Dartmouth at Plymouth State
UMass-Dartmouth rebounded from their first loss with a 70-50 beating of Worcester State in their last game.  Now the Corsairs get to make the trek up to Plymouth to take on the Panthers, a team who has not won more than 1 conference game since the 2009-10 season.  UMD should be careful in this spot, however, as last year in this exact situation they trailed for most of the game and needed to rally late to post a 52-48 victory at Foley Gymnasium.  The Corsairs struggled mightly on the road last year, but are 2-0 away from the Tripp Center so far this year, beating WPI and Salve Regina.  UMass-Dartmouth has scored 68 points or more in each of their six victories, while being held to 56 points in their lone loss.  Plymouth enters this game off a 53-38 home loss to impotent Colby-Sawyer, a game in which they never lead and shot just 27.5% in.  They trailed 27-12 at halftime.  The Corsairs won both matchups last year, the aforementioned game in Plymouth and an 85-45 rout at home.

Southern Maine at Western Connecticut
Southern Maine will make the long trip down to Danbury fresh off being pounded 65-44 at in-state rival Bowdoin.  The Huskies shot just 29% and trailed by 20 at halftime and 26 midway through the second half in the game against the Polar Bears.  USM has lost three of four overall and is shooting just 28% from three point range this season.  Western Connecticut has won five straight since their season-opening loss to New York University.  Included in the five game streak is their most recent victory, 60-50 at Staten Island.  Western led for the majority of the game against the poor-shooting Dolphins and was never seriously threatened in the second half after having an 8-point advantage at the half.  The Colonials have relied on their defense, giving up just 51.4 ppg in their five victories (they gave up 71 to NYU).  Caroline Brasa is averaging 16 points per game for Western.  Southern Maine won both games last year, 67-31 in Gorham and 57-55 in a much more competitive game at the Feldman Arena.  The Huskies quickly blew an 11-point second half advantage in the game in Danbury and fell behind before Taylor Flood made two free throws with a second left to win the game.

UMass-Boston at Keene State
The Owls return home after somehow squeaking out a 61-57 win at RPI in a game that saw them make just 1-of-17 threes and 12-of-27 from free throw line.  Keene State will no doubt need to shoot better from both areas going forward, beginning with the conference opener against UMass-Boston.  The Beacons have gone 3-2 against a weak schedule thus far and are coming off a 76-45 win over perennial punching bag Mount Ida.  In what is no secret, in order to beat the Beacons you have to stop Olivia Murphy.  Murphy has averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds per game thus far.  Only one other Beacon player (Grace Geary) averages in double-figures for points (13).  No other Beacons players average more than 8 rebounds per game.  The teams split the season series last year, each team winning at home.  Keene State won 60-56 at Spaulding Gym, while UMass-Boston beat the Owls 66-56 at the Clark Athletic Center.

[7express]

I'll take Eastern 73-58
Keene 73-69
Dartmouth 54-51
Western 63-54

[7express]

USM defeats Western 52-40.
Rebecca Knight lead the Huskies with 14 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds, while Megan Pelletier had a team high 12 rebounds and chipped in 10 points.  Carolina Brasa lead the Colonials with 11 points who only shot 26.7% from the field, 10.5% from 3, and 70% from the line.  Both teams return to action Tuesday: Colonials are @ Anna Maria, Huskies play Salem State in Maine.

RIC over Eastern 64-60.
Jordyn Nappi lead the Warriors with 16 points while Jill Ritrosky had 11 points and 19 rebounds.  Jess Korzec had a game high 26 to lead the Anchorwomen, while Alex Moore also finished with a 20 point outing as she finished with 22.   Korzec and Moore contributed 75% of RIC's total output (rest of the team finished with a combined 16) but it was good enough for the win.  RIC returns to the court Wednesday night @ Amherst, Eastern will look to end their 4 game slide Tuesday night @ Clark.

Dartmouth clobbers Plymouth 83-46.
Alicia Kutil lead the Corsairs with 21 points off the bench, while Megan Ronaghan had 16 points and 12 rebounds.  Savannah Miller lead the Panthers with 10 points.  Both teams are on the road Tuesday evening; Panthers are @ Lasell; Corsairs are @ Johnson & Wales.

Keene over Boston 58-47.
Kirsten Morrison with 13 off the bench to lead the Becons; Kelsey Cognetta lead the Owls with 19 points while Steph D'Annolfo had 17 rebounds and 9 points.  Beacons return home to face another city punching bag Simmons on Tuesday evening, Keene is off until next Saturday when they host USM.

29-21 LEC; 38-15 me

Standings:

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

Schedule:

Saturday, December 13:
USM @ Keene 1 PM
RIC @ Boston 1 PM

Saturday, January 3:
Plymouth @ Eastern 1 PM

Thursday, January 8:
Western @ Dartmouth 5:30 PM.  That'll take all conference teams up to 2 conference games.

Upcoming schedule:

Tuesday, December 9:
Eastern @ Clark 5 PM
Salem State @ USM 5:30 PM
Dartmouth @ Johnson & Wales 5:30 PM
Simmons @ Boston 7 PM
Western @ Anna Maria 7 PM
Plymouth @ Lasell 7 PM

[7express]

Eastern 74-57
USM 78-62
Dartmouth 78-64
Boston 81-48
Western 63-46
Lasell 65-57

Looks like some real blowouts on the schedule today.  5 of the 6 opponents are awful basketball teams, and you know it's a bad slate when Plymouth looks to be your closest game.

[7express]

Tuesday results:

Eastern destroys Clark 74-34.
Julia DePoi had a game high 16 for the Warriors, who got 11 points and 12 rebounds from Jill Ritrosky to end the slide.  Cougars were lead by Brooke Brennan who had 10.  Both teams are off until Christmas; Clark returns to the court December 30 @ Bowdoin; Eastern is off until after New years when they play LEC game #2 @ Plymouth State January 3.

USM clobbers Salem 77-37.
Rebecca Knight had a game high 13 for the Huskies; Rachel Carter lead the Vikings with a team high 12 points and game high 16 rebounds.  Salem plays Plymouth Thursday, while USM plays @ Keene Saturday.

J&W edges Dartmouth 61-58.
Bobbie Whitehead and Ashley Thompson each finished with a team high 13 points for the Wildcats; Megan Ronaghan had a game high 21 points and 13 rebounds while Kelsey Garrity added 10 assists for the Corsairs.  Atrocious loss for the Corsairs, who now have almost a month off as they don't play again until January 5 @ Williams.  Wildcats go to a J&W tournament in Miami, FL this weekend.  They start off with J&W of Colorado on Friday, then either play J&W Florida or J&W NC in the finals/consolation on Saturday.

Boston clubs Simmons 78-38.
Olivia Murphy lead the Beacons with a game high 16 points.  Nobody for the Sharks finished in double figures as they shot 25% and turned it over 30 times, but Jennifer Janiak had a team high 8 points, and Liz Brasa, the younger sister of Western Connecticut's Caroline Brasa had 5 points, but pulled down a game high 9 rebounds.  Sharks are off until after New Years where they play WPI on January 3; Boston hosts RIC Saturday.

Western over Anna Maria 55-49.
Carolina Brasa had 12 points to lead the Colonials; Trafficia Warburton had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals all game high's to lead the AMcats.  AMcats return to action Saturday with a game against Framingham State, while the Colonials break for the holidays.  They return on Friday, January 2 when they open up the 2nd annual Hat City Classic.  They play Green Mountain in the first game while Farmingdale State plays New Jersey City to round out the field.

Plymouth vs. Lasell was postponed to be made up February 5.  Plymouth is back in action Thursday @ Salem State; the Lasers play Saturday vs. Gordon.

33-22-1 LEC; 42-16-1 me

Wednesday's schedule:

RIC @ Amherst 6 PM

Amherst 79-47.

[7express]

Amherst clobbers RIC 74-37.
Ali Doswell scored a game high 19 points for the Jeffs; Michelle Logrotteria had 18 for the Anchorwomen.   Jeffs are off until after Christmas when they play Drew University on December 29, Anchorwomen are back in action Saturday @ Boston.

33-23-1 LEC; 43-16-1 me

Thursday schedule:
Westfield @ Boston 5:30
Plymouth @ Salem 5:30

[7express]

Boston 61-57
Salem 64-57

[7express]

Westfield over Plymouth 62-56.
Forbasaw Nkamebo lead the Owls with 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench; Olivia Murphy lead the Beacons with a game high 16.  Owls are off until December 29 when they play RPI; Boston plays RIC Saturday.

Plymouth clubs Salem 70-50.
Rachael Carter lead the Vikings with a game high 29 points and 16 rebounds (10 on the offensive end); Kayla Wyland lead the Panthers with 15 points and a game high 17 rebounds.  Vikings play local area rival Endicott on Saturday; Panthers are off until 2015 where they'll take on Eastern just after the calendar flips to 2015 on January 3.

34-24-1 LEC; 43-18-1 me.

Saturday schedule:
RIC @ Boston
USM @ Keene.  Last slate of games until after Christmas.

[AllStar]

Saturday's conference games:

Southern Maine at Keene State
Both teams will look to go into the break at 2-0 in the conference as Southern Maine travels to Spaulding Gymnasium and plays Keene State.  Southern Maine comes in at 5-3 and on a two-game winning streak since a loss on December 3rd against Bowdoin.  The Huskies won their conference opener, 52-40 in Danbury last week against Western and destroyed a bad Salem State team 77-37 last Tuesday in Gorham.  USM led 35-15 at halftime and for good measure pounded the Vikings 42-22 in the second half to win by 40.  Strangely, 4 of the 5 starters for the Huskies played more than 30 minutes even with the game never being in doubt in the second half.  Rebecca Knight scored 13 and Megan Pelletier added 11 for Southern Maine against Salem State, who shot just 21% from the floor in the game.  Keene State will have to play better than they did last weekend to win this game.  In their conference opener last Saturday against UMass-Boston, the Owls quickly blew a double-digit halftime lead (32-20) and actually fell behind by a point.  They were able to recover and beat the Beacons with a late scoring burst.  Kelsey Cognetta scored 19 points and Christan Wojtas added 13 points (...though it took 16 shots to get them).  Keene shot a lousy 32% in the contest and made just 8-of-25 threes (UMass-Boston shot an even worse at 29%).  The Owls were able to win in part by outrebounding UMB 48-36.  The Owls and Huskies split the regular season series last year with both teams winning on the road.  Keene State won 68-64 in overtime in Gorham.  Southern Maine won 56-40 in Keene.

Rhode Island College at UMass-Boston
The Anchorwomen enter this game at 2-7 and off a 74-35 road drubbing at the hands of 3rd-ranked Amherst on Wednesday.  The Jeffs led for the entire game and dominated nearly every statistical category.  Rhode Island College shot 26% from the floor and 1-of-9 from three.  Michelle Lagrotteria scored 18 of the Anchorwomen's 35 points (51.4% of the team's points).  Before losing to Amherst, RIC pulled off a surprising 64-60 home win over preseason favorite Eastern Connecticut last Saturday.  The game against the Anchorwomen will mark UMass-Boston's third game (all at home) this week.  The Beacons beat punching bag Simmons 78-38 on Tuesday before losing 62-56 to Westfield State on Thursday.  In the loss to the Owls, UMB coughed the ball up 26 times.  Olivia Murphy and Kirsten Morrison combined to score 30, while the entire rest of the team only scored 26 points.  If the Beacons ever want to get over the hump, they have to have more depth and balance than that.  This game is both teams' last until January, and for UMass-Boston it is critical to avoid falling to 0-2 in the conference.  A much different Rhode Island College team swept the Beacons last year, suffocating the Beacons 48-30 in Providence and 55-44 in Boston.  Much like the men's team, the UMass-Boston women haven't beaten Rhode Island College in a long time.  The last time the Beacons beat the Anchorwomen was January 13, 2007, an 80-76 decision in Rhode Island.

[7express]

I've got:
Boston 54-48.  First to 50 wins this game if it gets that high
USM 68-66.

[7express]

USM over Keene 71-66.
Megan Pelletier was one of 4 Huskies in double figures with 18; Sandi Purcell lead the Owls with 10 points, and Courtney Roberts had 10 points & 10 rebounds.  Both teams are now on the Christmas break:  USM plays WPI @ Westfield state tournament on Monday, December 29; Owls play Anna Maria at their holiday tournament on Tuesday, December 30.

Boston over RIC 63-58.
Olivia Murphy had a game high 21 points and 12 rebounds, Kirsten Morrison had 10 points and a game high 13 rebounds, and Grace Geary added 16 points to pace the Beacons attack.  Alex Moore had 16 to lead the way for RIC.  Both teams are off until 2015: Boston hosts Salve Regina on Saturday, January 3; RIC goes to Bowdoin to square off against the Polar Bears on Sunday, January 4.

34-24-1 LEC; 45-18-1.

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

Schedule:

Saturday, January 3:
Eastern @ Plymouth 1 PM

Thursday, January 8:
Western @ Dartmouth 5:30 PM

Conference has a 16 day break as the next game isn't until Monday, December 29 (just think, not 1 playoff spot has been clinched yet in the NFL, and by the time a conference team resumes play will be the start of Wildcard Card week in the NFL  )

Next game Monday, December 29:

WPI vs. USM (@ Westfield) 7 PM

Have a good holiday Allstar, and all the other lurkers on this board!

[7express]

Conferenced teams resume action this evening with USM taking on WPI at 7 PM.  The Engineers come in at 6-2 with only a 2 point loss vs. Dartmouth and a 3 point loss vs. Fitchburg keeping them from being 8-0.  I'll still pick USM by a 73-69 final.

[7express]

WPI in a dog fight over USM 49-44.
Dani Davis had a game high 14 for the Engineers, while Stephanie Gallagher had a team high 12 for the Huskies and Megan Pelletier had 10 points & 10 rebounds.  USM gets Rochester Tech today while WPI gets the host Owls.

34-25-1 LEC; 45-19-1 me

Tuesday predictions:
Keene over Anna Maria 74-43
USM 56-47 over Rochester Tech