WBB: Little East

[AllStar]

I see the same old problems for Keene.  They can't score.  Very hard to win against any team, let alone #4, when your starters can't even muster 25 points combined!

[7express]

Sunday results:

Western gets in the win column 59-52 over Juniata. 
Kelsey Livotti had 19 for the Eagles; Caroline Brasa lead the Colonials with 25 points & 15 rebounds for the Colonials.  Colonials held the Eagles to 29% shooting.  Both teams return to action Wednesday: Juniata @ Frostburg State, Western in their home opener vs. Sage.

Plymouth demolishes Yeshiva 81-43.
Won't have an easier game then this one for the Panthers.  Julie Owen led Yeshiva with 10 points; Taylor Perry had 19 points off the bench for the Panthers.  Yeshiva meanwhile got 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul from their bench combined.  Plymouth turned Yeshiva over 20 times and hit 43.6% from the floor.  Yeshiva returns to action Wednesday against York college of New York; Plymouth gets right back out there Tuesday night vs. Rivier.

Dartmouth over Colby-Sawyer 84-62.
Beth Castantini lead the Corsairs once again with 16 points and Erin Fahey added 13 points and a team high 10 rebounds.  Kelsey Garrity added 12 points, 5 rebounds & 4 assists for the Corsairs.  Kelsey Cahill added game highs of 18 points & 13 rebounds to set the pace for the Chargers, and Amanda Calvo added 15 points off the bench.  Dartmouth raced out to a 25 point lead at halftime and just cruised from there.   Colby-Sawyer is off until Saturday when they play Suffolk, Dartmouth returns to the court Wednesday vs. WPI.

USM over Bridgewater 67-49.
Chantelle Melton lead Bridgewater with 14 points & 8 rebounds while Megan Pelitier had a game high 21 to lead the Huskies who also got 18 from Rebecca Knight.   Bridgewater shot under 30% from the floor, while the Huskies finished over 50% from the floor.  The Bears return to action Wednesday night @ Elms, while the Huskies host #15 UNE on Wednesday evening.

Babson runs over RIC 95-56.
Colleen McLaughlin lead RIC with 9 points; Linnett Graber & taylor Russel each had 14 for the Beavers.  Nobody from RIC finished with more than 9 points or 5 rebounds.  Babson is off until Friday when they go to a tournament @ Williams hosted by the Ephs featuring Babson, Williams, Misericordia & Worcester State.  Much like this tournament, those matches are already preset as the Beavers will face Misericordia & Williams the 2 games.  RIC returns to action Thursday vs. Emmanuel.

Eastern runs over Framingham 74-47.
Monta Connolly was the only Ram in double figures as she recorded 10.  Warriors put 5 in double figures lead by Kristina Forsman with 21.  Shannon McCourt had 12 points & 11 rebounds off the bench, and Jill Ritrosky pulled down 17 rebounds.  Both teams return to action Tuesday: Framingham hosts Eastern Nazarene, Eastern goes to Emmanuel.

Keene over Wellesley 74-35.
Morgyne Weaver lead the Blue with 11 points and Chelsi Scott joiner her in double figures with 10.  Sandi Purcell lead the Owls with 23 points off the bench and Christan Wojtas put in 16 as well for the Owls.  The Owls held the Blue to 25% shooting and Weaver & Scott hit 6 of the 11 total field goals the Blue made in this game.  Tufts won a close game over UNE in a battle of top 15 teams in the championship 63-58.  Keene returns to the hardwood against another NESCAC powerhouse as they open the home campaign against the Amherst Lord Jeffs on Tuesday night, and Wellesley goes to GNAC fodder Simmons on Wednesday evening.

6-1 day for the LEC brings them to 9-6 on the season; and I go to 12-3 as I miss on the Keene & Western picks.

LEC off on Monday, so the next slate of games Tuesday:

Amherst (-17.5) @ Keene State 6:00
Rivier (-10) vs. Plymouth (@ NH Tech) 6:00
Eastern (+3.5) @ Emmanuel

[7express]

Tuesday schedule:

Amherst @ keene.
The thing going for the Owls is that they have already played 2 games while the Jeffs have yet to play this year.  That and the fact the Owls are at home may keep them close for a bit, but the Jeffs are 17.5 point favorites for a reason, as once the Jeffs find their feet, they should cruise past the Owls.  Amherst 74-51.

Plymouth vs. Rivier (@ NH tech).
Panthers are 1-1 losing to a tough Wheaton team and beating up hapless Yeshiva.  Raiders come in 0-2 getting swept @ Smith's season opening tournament: 9 point loss to Smith and 11 point loss to Endicott.  Last year Rivier won by 13.  I don't think Plymouth wins, but I think the Panthers keep it competitive and under the 10 points for Rivier; Rivier 65-56

Eastern @ Emmanuel.
This is one of 4 big OOC games in the next 3 weeks for the Warriors.  Warriors broke a 2 game losing streak in the series with a win in Willimantic last year, but haven't beaten the Saints in Boston since 2010.  That changes here, Eastern 65-59

[AllStar]

Amherst races past Keene, 84-67.  The Owls need to make some adjustments to their starting lineup.  Amherst shot extremely well and Keene looked disjointed and paid for it again with another lopsided loss to a very good team.

[7express]

Tuesday results:

Amherst over Keene 84-67.
Sandi Purcell & Christan Wojtas each had 15 to tie for the game high; Marley Giddins had a game high 20 off the bench for the Jeffs while Cheyenne Pritchard had 18 off the bench.  Both teams off until Saturday: Amherst is at home vs. Mount Holyoke, Keene also takes a drive to the Amherst area, but travels to the next town over as they go to Northampton to take on Smith.

Eastern over Emmanuel 76-63.
An excellent road win for the Warriors over the top dog of the GNAC.  No boxscore from this game however.  Emmanuel is @ RIC Thursday, while Eastern hosts Connecticut rival Trinity also on Thursday.

Plymouth wins.......again! 46-41.
Not pretty but if your Plymouth you take it!  Deanna Purcell lead the Raiders with 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds while Savannah Butterfield lead the team with 10 rebounds and chipped in 14 points.  DeAsia Lawrence lead the Panthers with 14 points while Savannah Miller had 10 points & 10 rebounds.  Rivier finished 4-22 from 3 with Caitlin perry 0-7 from downtown; she was only 1-16 shooting for the game.  That's back-to-back wins for Plymouth, the first time that's happened since January 31-February 4 2012 when they won 3 straight.  They have now equaled last seasons win total through 3 games.  Their next win this year would equal '14 AND '13's combined win total.  Plymouth looks to continue their winning ways Saturday @ Lyndon State while the Raiders return to action Thursday @ Fitchburg State.

11-7 for the LEC; 14-4 for me on the year.

Wednesday schedule:

UNE (+2.5) @ USM
The Nor'Easters come in as a top 25 team coming off a tough home loss to top 5 Tufts on Sunday.  UNE has won 4 of the last 5 of the series with the only Huskies win coming in Rebecca Knight's first season when the Huskies finished 27-2.  This is a chance for USM to grab a win against a top 25 team while UNE plays a road game at a very tough place to play.  I'll take the Huskies at home, though I'll probably be punching myself around 7:15 tomorrow evening when I see UNE has won by 20    USM 67-66

Sage (+17) @ Western.
Sage finished last year 17-10 one of their greatest seasons in school history.  Their coach took off for greener pastures and now is run by former Eastern assistant Allison Coleman who knows Kim Rybczyk & Western inside-and-out as she was a coach & former player @ Eastern.  That's not enough for Sage to get the win, but should keep them within the 17 points; Western 66-49

Dartmouth (+2) @ WPI.
Both teams are 2-0 by beating 4 bad teams each.  WPI's 2 wins were over Worcester opponents who both finished .500 last year.  Dartmouth's opponents were only slightly better as they finished a combined 33-23 last year.  As usual with the Corsairs: can they win on the road??  I say yes, at least for this game.  Dartmouth 74-67

[7express]

Wednesday results:

UNE in overtime over USM 77-73.
Sadie DiPierro had 22 to lead UNE who also got 15 points from Alicia Brown and 14 points from Kelly Coleman.  Megan Pelletier lead USM as she tied for a game high with 22 and the Huskies also put Rebecca Knight (12 points + 14 rebounds), Ella Ramonas (10) and Lauren Rousseau (15) in double figures.  Both benches were putrid as the teams combined for a measly 18 bench points but the Nor'Easters recorded 13 of the 18 however.  Meghan Gribbin hit a jumper for the Nor'easters to force overtime and after Knight scored the first 2 points of the OT period, the Nor'Easters hit 8 of the final 10 points of OT to pull away.  USM is off for the rest of the week as they don't play again until Tuesday night at Maine rival Bates; UNE is also off until Tuesday night and they also play a Maine NESCAC rival as they get the Polar Bears of Bowdoin in Biddeford.

Western over Sage 51-47.
Frankie Pearson lead the Gators with a game-high 18 while Amie Jefferson chipped in 8 points and a game high 13 rebounds for the Gators.  Alyssa Eannotti, Kerri Stolle & Carolina Brasa each had 10 points to lead the way for the Colonials.  Another game with bad bench output as this game saw only 12 combined points from the reserves.  Western returns to the court Saturday @ Trinity; Sage returns to the court also on Saturday vs. SUNY-Cobleskill.

Dartmouth leads 52-49 with 5:30 to go as of this writing.  I'll edit this later when that game goes final.
Dartmouth wins in double overtime 73-71.  Dani Davis lead the Engineers in scoring with 22 and grabbed 12 rebounds; Amaia Gritsko had a game high 16 rebounds and chipped in 12 points as well.  Megan Ronaghan had a game high 29 for the Corsairs.  Ronaghan made 1 of 2 free throws at the end of regulation to force the first overtime and Alicia Kutil forced the second overtime which tied the game for the Corsairs at 65

Thursday schedule:

Emmanuel (+2) @ RIC.
Emmanuel has had 2 tough games they both lost vs. William Paterson and Eastern.  RIC still has some work to do as a team before they can compete against a team like this.  Anchorwomen have lost 3 straight to the Saints losing by an average of 15 points.  Emmanuel 69-56

Trinity (CT) (+ 8.5) @ Eastern.
The Bantams are 1-1 beating Skidmore on the road and losing by 20 to the Cortland State Red Dragons on the home court of the Thoroughbreds.  This is the start of Eastern's 4 game gauntlet through the top 4 of the NESCAC.  In this stretch between now and December 4, the Warriors will face off against 4 of the top 5 finishers in the NESCAC last year, and if you include the game they play @ Conn College in February, the Warriors face off against 5 of the top 6 finishers in the NESCAC from last season.  Eastern 78-70.

13-8 LEC; 16-5 me

[AllStar]

Thursday results:

Emmanuel handles Rhode Island College again, 72-56.  The game was tied 30-30 at halftime and was 55-53 Emmanuel with 6:42 left, but the Saints closed the game on a 17-3 run.  The Anchorwomen made just 6 field goals and shot 24% in the second half.  The teams combined for 57 turnovers in the game, the Saints committing 29.  Emmanuel was also whistled for 25 fouls...hard to turn the ball over 29 times and commit 25 fouls and win, let alone by 16...but Emmanuel did just that against a struggling RIC team.  The Anchorwomen have WPI at home on Saturday.  The Engineers are 2-1, losing to LEC foe UMass-Dartmouth 73-71 in double overtime last time out.  Emmanuel travels to nearby Endicott on Saturday to take on the Gulls.

Eastern Connecticut plows over hapless Trinity, 60-27.  Fourth lopsided win in a row to open the season for the Warriors, who are living up to their preseason conference pick so far.  Trinity shot a pathetic 20% for the game (making 9 field goals) and placed nobody in double figures while committing 22 turnovers.  Jill Ritrosky scored 24 points for Eastern, who shot just 31% themselves and made just 3-of-24 from three.  Shannon McCourt pulled down 19 rebounds.  The Bantams mustered 14 points in the first half and 13 in the second half.  Eastern faces a much tougher test next Tuesday against top five-ranked Tufts at home.  It doesn't stop there...Williams and Amherst are on the schedule after that.  Trinity gets the second of three straight games vs. the LEC next with their home-opener vs. Western.

[7express]

14-9 LEC; 18-5 for me after Thursday's games.

Rapid fire Friday:

Boston 67-62 over Lasell

[AllStar]

In the lone Friday game, UMass Boston expectedly had no trouble beating lowly Lasell.

[7express]

In the lone Friday game, UMass Boston expectedly had no trouble beating lowly Lasell.

You wanna continue doing the recaps.  You did better ones than I did, LOL.

[AllStar]

In the lone Friday game, UMass Boston expectedly had no trouble beating lowly Lasell.

You wanna continue doing the recaps.  You did better ones than I did, LOL.

I could as long as I don't forget.  LOL.  Although, yours seem fine to me! 

[7express]

LOL i'll do the women's game & Plymouth/Endicott men's game (since the other 2 men's games were covered already)

[7express]

Boston over Lasell 82-53.
Katie Stopera lead the way for lasell with 26 points while Olivia Murphy lead all scorers with 28 points and also pulled down 13 rebounds.  Beacons bench outscored the Lasers bench 39-3.  Beacons now get the host Salem State Vikings while the Lasers get the pitiful Thomas Terriers who were scorching hot against Salem State Friday night scoring.......25 points and losing by 46.  Their only other game, they lost by double digits to a USCAA school.

15-9 LEC; 19-5 me

Saturday schedule:

Coast Guard (+4) @ Dartmouth 1:00
Plymouth (-10) @ Lyndon State 1:00
Western (+3.5) @ Trinity (CT) 1:00
Keene (+3.5) @ Smith 2:00
WPI (+11.5) @ RIC 3:00
Boston (+6) @ Salem 3:00

[7express]

Dartmouth 75-66.  At home they'll get it done.
Plymouth 65-44.  3 straight for the Panthers!
Trinity 65-61.  Last year the game went to overtime so this one should be close as well.
Smith 68-54.  Smith isn't as good as 2 years ago when they beat USM in the NCAAs, but I don't think Keene can score enough
RIC 59-55.  Ex RIC post player Rachel Riley makes her return to the Murray Center as top assistant for the Engineers.  Both teams are struggling, I'll take RIC at home.
Salem 76-73.  Still don't think the Beacons can win on the road.

[7express]

Sat results:

Dartmouth over Coast Guard 68-58.
Dani Knox had a game high 23 for Coast Guard.  Beth Castantini had 18 to lead Dartmouth.  Kelsey Garrity was held off the score sheet, but finished with 7 rebounds & 6 assists but also 8 of Dartmouth's 20 turnovers.  Bears are off until December 3 when they open up the NEWMAC schedule at WPI; Dartmouth goes to Salve regina on Tuesday night.

Plymouth over Lyndon 62-56.
Aimee Thompson and Emily Gray each had 16 to lead the Hornets.  DeAsia Lawrence had a game high 25 for the Panthers who committed only 5 turnovers in the game.  It was closer than I thought it would be, but the Panthers have now matched their win total from the last 2 years combined.  Hornets are playing a back-to-back as they go to Southern Vermont on Sunday afternoon; Plymouth plays @ Castleton State Tuesday.

Western clobbers trinity 86-57.
Mackenzie Griffin lead the Bantams with 13 points while Colleen Cosker paced the Colonials with 18 points while Alyssa Eannotti finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  30 of the Colonials 65 attempted field goals were from behind the arc.  Bantams finished up the LEC slate Tuesday @ Keene, while the Colonials continue with the NESCAC as well on Tuesday as they take their shot vs. the Camels on Conn College.

Keene over Smith 77-63.
Tia Karapoulios and Alyssa Barrett each had 16 points for the Pioneers.  Sandi Purcell paced the Owls with 15 points who outrebounded the Pioneers 54-33 (22-9 on the offensive end) and got double-doubles from both Amanda Petrow (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Ryanne Williams (11 points, 16 rebounds).  The Owls got 15 rebounds as well from Stephanie D'Annolfo but she only recorded 6 points.  Both teams return to action Tuesday: Smith @ Wentworth, and as mention previous the Owls host Trinity College.

WPI over RIC 56-35.
Lisa Mendez and Rachel Pineda each had 11 points to lead the Engineers.  Devin Hill lead RIC with 9 points who didn't get a player in double figures, shot only 20.9% from the field, turned the ball over 18 times and never lead in the game.  RIC will shoot for that first win Tuesday at home vs. Bridgewater, while the Engineers will hit the road again as they travel down 395 and take on the Nichols Bisons.

Boston over Salem 63-41.
Rachel Carter lead the Vikings with a game high 21 points while Olivia Murphy was the only Beacon in double figures with 14.  The Beacons forced the Vikings into 18 turnovers and held them to 24.1% shooting.  Both teams return to action Tuesday: Salem faces local area rival Gordon on the road while the Beacons face another MASCAC school as they take a shot at Fitchburg State.

20-10 LEC; 2-4 day drops me to 21-9.

Conference off until Tuesday when all 8 teams return to action:

trinity (+1) @ Keene 5:00
USM (-10) @ Bates 5:30
Bridgewater (+6.5) @ RIC 5:30
Dartmouth (pick em) @ Salve 5:30
Boston (-4) @ Fitchburg 5:30
Conn College (+3) @ Western 5:30
Plymouth (+15.5) @ Castleton State 5:30
Tufts (-8.5) @ Eastern in the game of the day and season so far at 6