WBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

7 agree with everything you said! +k

[7express]

First quarter of Eastern/USM: 12 combined points (Eastern lead 8-4).  Yuck!  The fact that Eastern only has 35 points with about 6 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter isn't very good.
Once again poor shooting looks to be the downfall of the Warriors: 12.9% from 3, and 25.9% overall.  And we can't even use the "they played a great team excuse" this time either as the Huskies are far from being even a good team.  Despite scoring 4 total points in the 1st quarter, they lead by double digits with 4:45 to play.
In other games: Western leads by 3 over Boston at halftime, Keene by double figures over Dartmouth, and Plymouth leads RIC early.  That game didn't start until 1:45 due to bus trouble with RIC on the trip up.
Eastern loses to USM 51-43.  Eastern's point total by quarters: 1st- 8, 2nd- 13, 3rd- 12, 4th- 10.  Sorry, but that's not good enough!

[7express]

Saturday results:

RIC over Plymouth 52-47.
0-1!  Welp, I was half right: Devin Hill (21 points) & Ace Lawrence (17) did play right with each other and the Panthers did get those "secondary" points from Taylor Perry (15).  However, that was it for Plymouth as those were 32 of their 47 total points, while the Anchorwomen got 18 points from Alex Moore, and 13 points and 10 rebounds from Rybecca Gonzalez.  Panthers (2-5, 0-2) host Lasell on Tuesday, while the Anchorwomen (3-4, 1-0) will likely get run over by Amherst in the Murray Center on Wednesday night.

Western over Boston 83-73.
Didn't see that 1 coming: Western scoring 83 points, or them even winning, 0-2!  Colonials put 5 in double figures lead by Kayla Crowell and Emily Dobson, while Grace Geary lead the Beacons with 25 points off the bench, and Olivia Murphy had 11 points & 16 rebounds for yet another double-double.  Colonials (4-3, 1-0) are off until next Saturday when they host USM while the Beacons (6-1, 0-1) play @ Westfield on Tuesday.

USM over Eastern 51-43.
0-3!  I wrote about this above, but Ritrosky got only held to 4 points (pulled down a game high 15 rebounds), while Jordyn Nappi finished with a game high 13 points, and Gretchen Anderson and Alex Srolovitz tied for the Huskies lead with 12.  Bowdoin and UNE are good teams I get that, but Bates (1-5), and St. Joseph's (ME) (5-1 but in a weak conference) scored 56 & 74 points on the Huskies respectively.  I stand by what I wrote above and on the last page: Score. Some. More. Points.  This was the preseason #24 team in the country, and they've scored 43, 46 & 43 points against the 3 probably best teams they've played.  At this rate Keene (who's averaging 82.3 ppg and has scored 75+ in 6 of 7 games) is going to completely wipe the floor with them.  Warriors (4-3, 0-1) play Westfield on Tuesday, while the Huskies (3-4, 1-0) head to Salem State on Tuesday.

Keene over Dartmouth 86-71.
Oooops, 0-4!  Yup, I'll admit, Keene is a pretty good team.  Every team has played at least 1 conference game and I think they are definitely the best team in the league so far.  82.3 ppg on the season, scoring 77 or more in 6 of 7 games.  They have had a pretty easy schedule, but they don't really play anyone the rest of the season, and can definitely outscore Eastern.  There problem the last couple of seasons is that they've worn down as the season has gone on, but this is now an expierenced group, they managed to weather that storm last year, and I think they'll be near the top of the conference standings the whole season.  Megan Ronaghan lead the Corsairs with a game high 24 while Beth Castantini had 16.  For the Owls Sandi Purcell and Kelsey Cognetta each had 23, Amanda Petrow had 12 points and a game high 10 rebounds and Steph D'Annolfo filled up the stat sheet once again: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals & 2 blocks.  She goes underappreciated, doesn't usually lead the Owls in points or rebounds, but she's usually 2 or 3 in rebounds & points on a given night, and gives the Owls about 5 assists, 2 blocks, and 4 steals, great all around player!  Only a junior too so could very well be my preseason LEC player of the year next season....and speaking of next season, next season the Owls will be loaded.  The only 2 seniors on their roster are Cognetta (the PG) and Ryanne Williams (a bench player that hasn't done anything outside of her freshmen year), so next year should be the real big season.  Owls (7-0, 1-0) head to Boston to play the Beacons next Saturday while the Corsairs (7-1, 1-1) play their final game of the first semester when they host Johnson & Wales Tuesday.

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

Upcoming LEC Schedule:
Saturday, December 12:
USM @ Western 1 PM
RIC @ Eastern 1 PM
Keene @ Boston 1 PM

Next games Tuesday:
Lasell (+3) @ Plymouth 6 PM
Johnson & Wales (+8.5) @ Dartmouth 7 PM
USM (-14) @ Salem State 7 PM
Westfield (+12.5) @ Eastern 7 PM

[7express]

Tuesday predictions:

Lasell @ Plymouth.
The Lasers are 4-4 but have only played 2 teams with a winning record including an 0-8 team, and an 0-10 team they only beat by 4 points scoring 45 points against.  Panthers had a tough game against RIC, but I think they'll bounce back here.  Plymouth 53-48

J&W @ Dartmouth.
Corsairs coming off their 1st loss of the season Saturday, while the Wildcats are 5-0 on the season.  Oddsmakers have the Corsairs as a big 8.5 point favorite.  I think Dartmouth wins, but should be close.  Dartmouth 66-61

USM @ Salem State.
This is actually the Huskies second trip to Salem State this year as they opened the season with a tournament at Salem.  The matchups were preset with each team playing Castleton & Thomas: Huskies lost by 15 to Castleton, and beat Thomas by 40, Vikings also lost to Castleton by 15 but only beat Thomas by 22.  Those are the only common opponents on the season.  Oddsmakers have made the Huskies a large 14 point favorite, and I'm not even sure they'll even have a lead by 14 in the game, much less win by 14.  Salem 62-59

Westfield/Eastern has been postponed for reasons unknown with the makeup scheduled for December 17.  Second LEC game this year that has been postponed for "mysterious circumstances" after RIC @ Bridgewater was postponed right before Thanksgiving

[7express]

Tues results, short results as I have to catch up on a lot of work by 3:30 PM tomorrow 

Lasell over Plymouth 57-53.  Katie Wyland 23 and 14 for Plymouth; Katie Stopera 19 for Lasell.  Lazers (5-4) at Emerson Thursday, Panthers (2-6) vs. Salem Thursday.

USM crushes Salem 81-46.
Emily Nicholson 15 for the Huskies, Sarah Callahan 10 for the Vikings.  Vikings (3-4) up to Plymouth Thursday; Huskies (4-4) down to Western Saturday.

J&W over Dartmouth in overtime 81-72.  Megan Ronaghan 25 & 14 for the Corsairs, while Bobbie Whitehead lead the Wildcats with 32 & 16.  Wildcats (6-0) host Curry Saturday, while Dartmouth (7-2) are done for the semester as they don't play again until January 4 when they play Salem.

Wednesday schedule:
Amherst (-26.5) @ RIC 7 PM

[7express]

I'm not going to able to do the recap tonight's (and probably tomorrow night either), so hopefully someone can pick up for me today.  If not I'll get tonight's and Saturday's over the weekend.

[AllStar]

Wednesday:

No. 2 Amherst beats Rhode Island College easily, 63-39
Amherst handed overmatched RIC their sixth loss in seven games.  Predictably, the Jeffs had no trouble in this game.  Ali Doswell had 15 points to lead Amherst, while Jackie Nagle had 13 off the bench.  Alex Moore scored 14 points to lead Rhode Island College's pathetic offensive effort which saw the Anchorwomen shoot just 28.6%.  Rhode Island College travels to play struggling Eastern Connecticut on Saturday.  Strangely, the Anchorwomen swept ECSU in the season series last year.  Amherst is off until December 28th when they play Adrian at Daytona, FL.

Thursday:

Westfield handles UMass-Boston, 91-79
Second straight loss for the Beacons, and also the second straight game they have given up over 80 points.  UMB also turned the ball over 34 times.  Very hard to win doing that.  Olivia Murphy had another double-double for UMass-Boston with 21 points and 14 rebounds (10 offensive).  Grace Geary and Ariana Rivera each had 13 points off the bench.  Forbasaw Nkamebo had 22 points and 13 boards for the Owls, while Jill Valley and Kirsy Segarra each added 13 points.  Westfield won despite being outrebounded, 64-47.  The Beacons close out the first semester by hosting Keene State on Saturday.  Westfield travels to Northampton to play Smith on Saturday.

Plymouth beats Salem State, 77-63
Kayla Wyland had 25 points for the Panthers and Ace Lawrence added 20 (on 4-of-15 from three).  Kailyn Aguiar had 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.  Kia Fernandes had 22 points for Salem State, who got clobbered by a Little East foe for the second straight game.  The Vikings travel to play Endicott on Saturday afternoon, while the Panthers are done until January 2nd when they play an absolutely dreadful Mount Holyoke team.

Saturday's Schedule:
Southern Maine at Western Connecticut, 1:00 pm
Rhode Island College at Eastern Connecticut, 1:00 pm
Keene State at UMass-Boston, 1:00 pm

[AllStar]

Arizona Shootout results:

Tuesday:
Keene State 80, Worcester State 49
Eastern Connecticut 56, SUNY Poly 45

Wednesday:
Eastern Connecticut 64, Worcester State 40
Keene State 75, SUNY Poly 43

[7express]

I just noticed Keene plays Worcester in the annual "math madness" midweek noon game in a couple weeks.  Why were they playing again in Phoenix when they were going to be playing each other in 14 or so days time??

[AllStar]

I just noticed Keene plays Worcester in the annual "math madness" midweek noon game in a couple weeks.  Why were they playing again in Phoenix when they were going to be playing each other in 14 or so days time??

I'm not sure there was a choice, especially considering Eastern Connecticut was also out in Arizona.  Also, I'm sure they knew they were going to Arizona well in advance and probably didn't know the opponents until after.  Those are just a few guesses.  If Eastern wasn't there and another non-LEC team was, they certainly could and probably would have played them rather than Worcester State.  Both Eastern and Keene would have been benefitted if that field was better...the competition wasn't very good to say the least.

[7express]

So, it looks like conference play resumes tomorrow.  Haven't been following the action much since mid December but Keene still looks like the team to beat, and they get a bad USM team, though in Maine it's always dangerous.  Western plays Dartmouth in what could be one of the better games.  Eastern should slaughter Plymouth and RIC/Boston maybe good as well.

[7express]

This conference stinks.  Keene loses to USM after winning in Maine each of the last 2 years, and this year was their best team of the 3.  Western beats Dartmouth, Boston beats RIC & Eastern beats Plymouth.  Western is the only 3-0 team; Keene, USM & Eastern all go to 2-1; Dartmouth, Boston & RIC are 1-2 and Plymouth 0-3.  Nobody's getting a pool C from this conference this year, so the final 11 LEC games will just come down to tournament seeding and putting each team in the best position to make the NCAAs, and the best chance to get there is to host the semi's and finals and that means winning the league.  USM probably has the edge as they've already played the two Connecticut schools (Eastern & Western) on the road and their longest road trip remaining is RIC, and won @ Eastern.

[AllStar]

There is no excuse for that brutal loss by Keene.  Same for the men, too.  Pretty bad!

[7express]

There is no excuse for that brutal loss by Keene.  Same for the men, too.  Pretty bad!

The men lost too??

[7express]

Keene hands Western their first LEC loss, Eastern beats Dartmouth & USM beats RIC so all 4 are 3-1.  Still think Keene is the best team of the bunch, but if I had to pick a winner today I'd pick USM because their 3 farthest trips (Eastern, Western & RIC) are all done and have a backloaded home stretch of conference games coming up as they've already played 3 conference games on the road.  Don't think Eastern & Western are gonna score enough against the other 3, though Eastern has done fairly well since they got beat up by Amherst, Tufts & USM the end of November.  Keene doesn't have the marquee victories, so even with their gaudy 13-1 record, this is a 1 bid league regardless of which of the 8 teams wins.

Boston & Dartmouth are by far the 2 biggest disappointments.  Not even close in that department either.