WBB: Little East

[7express]

Cutting it close here with the picks for the first game:

Keene 68-65.  Keene is worse than Western & Eastern are, but the Bantams got demolished by both of those teams.  Neither games were close at all.
USM 78-59
Bridgewater 65-58.  RIC will win at some point, don't think it's here though.
Dartmouth 73-65.  So far they are winning away from the Tripp Athletic Center.
Boston 73-59
Western 76-54.  Last year the Camels ended a 3 game losing streak in the series in which they lost by an average of 14.3 points.   Western has won 4 straight at home since the series resumed by an average of 16.8 points
Castleton 78-54.  Plymouth has been playing well, but the Spartans take control of it.
Tufts 65-61.  2 good defensive teams, points at a premium.  I look at this something like the UConn women playing a road game @ Oklahoma State who is ranked #20 in the division 1 poll.  Tufts, much like UConn is clearly the better team, but if some things can break right and they get a couple of lucky bounces, OK State may be within a possession or 2 with 3 minutes to play and you take your chances.  Tufts should win this by double digits but if the Warriors can hang around for 35 minutes, they can give themselves a chance.  I don't think that'll happen, but I do think Eastern plays them close.

[7express]

Tuesday results:

Keene clubs Trinity 66-46.
Sheena Landy had 12 for the only bantam in double figures and Christan Wojtas had 13 to lead the Owls.  Keene is off until next Tuesday when they go to Rennselaer, NY to take on RPI; Trinity host local area rival Conn College next Thursday December 4 in a non NESCAC match for their next game.

Bates edges USM 61-60.
Molly Brown had 27 to lead the Bobcats and also pulled down 11 rebounds while Allie Coppola had 11 rebounds and 7 points for the Bobcats; Meghan Pellitier had 15 to lead the Huskies while Rebecca Knight had 8 points and 10 rebounds and Ella Ramonas had 14 points and 13 rebounds.  The Huskies were up 14 with 6:32 to play and got outscored 16-1 to end it, bad loss.  Rebecca Knight ended the game with an offensive foul called.  USM will look to bounce back on Sunday night vs. local rival St. Joseph's (ME) while the Bates will look to take this momentum and carry it into the non NESCAC encounter vs. Colby on Sunday.  Bates, Bowdoin & Colby all play each other twice a season, but only the second game counts in the NESCAC standings.  Bates has both of the Bowdoin & Colby NESCAC games at home.

Bridgewater in OT over RIC 68-67.
Michelle Lagrotteria had 18 to lead RIC and Jess Korzec had 17 off the bench for the Anchorwomen.  Devil Hill added 10 rebounds and 8 points and Alex Moore added 10 points & 10 rebounds for the Anchorwomen as well.  Chanelle Melton had 15 to lead the Bears and Christina Jaros lead the Bears with 15 rebounds.   Bridgewater hit 2 free throws with 7 seconds left to win.  Bridgewater is off until next Tuesday when they take on another LEC team in the Corsairs while the Anchorwomen are off until next Thursday when they take on city rival Johnson & Wales.

Dartmouth over Salve 73-50.
Meaghan Harden had 15 points & 12 rebounds for the Seahawks; Megan Ronaghan had a career high 33 points to lead the Corsairs who also got 16 points from Erin Fahey.  Kelsey Garrity continues to commit too many turnovers as she had 8 this game as well and is averaging 4.4 turnovers a game through 5 games.  The odd thing is, she's had 2 games when she's committed 0, so when she commits them, she commits them in bunches (6, 8 & 8).  Salve next plays Bowdoin on Saturday, Dartmouth is off for Thanksgiving when they play Bridgewater.

Boston chokes, loses to Fitchburg 60-57.
Megan Wodzinski lead the Falcons with 14 points and Britney Payne added 10 points and 11 rebounds.  Olivia Murphy once again lead the Beacons charge with 17 points & 18 rebounds while Katrina Edwards added 12 points & 12 rebounds for Boston.  The Beacons actually held a 3 point lead AND the ball with under 40 seconds to play in overtime, and not only did they not just lose on a buzzer beater, they lost with the opponent padding the lead with free throws!    1 Beacon turnover lead to a layup for the Falcons to put them down 1, and the beacons turned it over again to lead to the winner.  Boston added a 3rd turnover which lead to 2 Falcon free throws for the final margin and added a 4th for good measure on the inbounds.  When you take into account the time and situation (Beacons up 3 with the ball and under 45 seconds to play), this maybe just as bad as the USM loss.  Not good.  Both teams are off until next Tuesday: Boston plays Mt. Ida, Fitchburg plays Lasell

Castleton over Plymouth 67-52.
Taylor Perry had a game high 17 off the bench for the panthers, while Jade Deroches lead the Spartans with 16, and Bryanna DuPont had 13 points & 20 rebounds.  Plymouth is off until next Tuesday when they play Colby-Sawyer; Castleton State is off until December 3 when they open up NAC play against Lyndon State.

Western over Conn College 55-51.
Caroline Brasa lead the Colonials with 16 points and Alyssa Eannotti had 6 points & 10 rebounds.  Mairead Hynes had a game high 24 off the bench for the Camels.  Camels resume action Monday night against Albertus; Colonials are off until next Wednesday when they travel to Staten Island.

Tufts defeats Eastern 63-51.
Hayley Kanner had a game high 20 for the Jumbos while Jordyn Nappi finished with a team high 13 for the Warriors.  Tufts next plays Wheaton (MA) Monday evening, Eastern continues the NESCAC gauntlet welcoming Williams into Willimantic on Sunday afternoon.

Overall not a very good day for the conference.  Eastern lost the marquee game of the day, and USM & Boston completely folded down the stretch and were left defeated when both probably had close to a 90%+ win probability at a specific point in time.  I would think the Beacons having the ball up 3 with under 45 seconds would have about a 95% win probability in that case.  How can we start tracking this for college sports & D-3 basketball??  3-5 day leaves the conference 23-15 in OOC play; 6-2 for me leaves me 27-11.

Conference off until Sunday:
Williams @ Eastern 3:00
St. Joseph's (ME) @ USM 5:30.

Hope everyone has a good holiday!

[AllStar]

Nice job nailing UMD's point total in your prediction!

[AllStar]

Have a good holiday, 7!

[7express]

Williams 66-53.  Eastern is still a notch below the 3 NESCAC powers.
USM 58-54 in the US-202 rivalry game.

[7express]

Sunday results:

RIC over Roger Williams 71-61 in overtime.
Alex Moore lead RIC with a game-high 24 points.  Katie Lowerre lead the Seahawks with 14 points off the bench while Mariah Nichols had 11 points & 17 rebounds and Bridget Quilty added 10 points and 13 rebounds.  Somehow this eluded me on Tuesday.  Seahawks are back in action Wednesday evening when they open CCC play vs. Nichols, RIC is @ city rival Johnson & Wales Thursday night.

Eastern fails part 2, loses to Williams 70-64.
Erin Brooks lead Eastern with 21 off the bench and Jill Ritrosky added 17 points and 12 rebounds.  Ellen Cook lead the Ephs with 21 points and Kellie Macdonald added 19.  Williams is back in action Tuesday evening vs. Skidmore, Eastern finishes up the NESCAC gauntlet with a trip to Amherst Thursday evening.

USM in OT over SJME 65-57.
Ella Ramonas lead the Huskies with 18 points and Megan Pelletier added 14 points and a game high 13 rebounds.  Morgan Cahill lead the Monks with 22 points and 10 rebounds.  Both teams return to the court Wednesday vs. state NESCAC opponents: Monks host Colby, Huskies go to Bowdoin.

25-16 LEC; 29-11 me

Next games Tuesday:
Bridgewater @ Dartmouth 5:30
Keene @ RPI 6:00
Boston @ Mt. Ida 6:00
Colby-Sawyer @ Plymouth State 6:00

[7express]

Tuesday predictions:

Dartmouth 67-58
Keene 65-64
Boston 78-32.  Why are they playing this cupcake??
Colby-Sawyer 67-54

[AllStar]

Keene was lucky to win against RPI with that miserable box score!  Probably says something about RPI.  The Owls shot in the low 30's for a percentage overall (34.8% to be exact)...made 1-of-17 from three point range...and 12-of-27 free throws!  Hard to tell what's the worst of those numbers!  My goodness.  Awful.

[7express]

Tuesday results:

Bridgewater edges Dartmouth 57-56.
Beth Castantini lead all scorers with 14 for the Corsairs, Vanessa Conceicao lead Bridgewater with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Not a good look for the Corsairs at home.   Megan Boutilette had the game-winning layup with 29 seconds left, and Kelsey Garrity turned it over on the other end.  Bears are back in action Saturday afternoon vs. Amherst, Corsairs play Thursday vs. Worcester State.

Keene over RPI 61-57.
Amanda Lynch had 17 for the Red Hawks to lead all scorers; Stephanie D'Annolfo and Courtney Robers each lead the Owls with 14 points and Sarah Kober had a game high 11 rebounds.  Owls shot 1-17 from 3 and 12-27 from the free throw line, but somehow were able to win.  This was the Red Hawks final game of the fall semester as they are off for finals and resume action after the Christmas holiday December 29 @ Westfield State, Owls have the LEC opener at home vs. Boston Saturday afternoon.

Boston clobbers Mt. ida 76-45.
Katelyn Jesse lead the Mustangs with 10 points; Grace geary lead the Beacons with 24 points off the bench.  Mt. Ida is back in action Saturday against NAIA Fisher College of Boston; Beacons will have a much tougher test than the Mustangs Saturday @ Keene in the LEC opener.

Colby-Sawyer over Plymouth 53-38.
Kelsey Bragdon lead the Chargers with a game high 14 points and team high 12 rebounds; Panthers were lead by Tiffany Lewis who had a team high of 8 points and a game high 13 rebounds.  Both teams open up conference play at home Saturday; Chargers vs. Green Mountain, Panthers vs. Dartmouth.

27-18 LEC; 32-12 me

Wednesday games:
Western @ Staten Island 7 PM
USM @ Bowdoin 7 PM

[7express]

Wednesday picks:

Bowdoin over USM 63-58
Western 74-58 over CSI

[7express]

Wednesday results:

Western by 10 over CSI 60-50.
Ashley Iannacone was the lone Dolphin in double figures with 10 points; Caroline Brasa had a game high 21 for the Colonials.  CSI next plays next Tuesday in the CUNY opener vs. Baruch; Western has their LEC opener vs. USM on Saturday.

Bowdoin clubs USM 65-44
Megan Pelletier had 16 to lead the Huskies while the Polar Bears were lead by Sara Binkhorst who put in a game high 19.  Polar Bears return to action Saturday afternoon against state & conference rival Colby in the non NESCAC game between the 2; USM is @ Western in the LEC opener for each team Saturday afternoon.

28-19 LEC; 34-12 me

Thursday schedule:

Eastern @ Amherst 5:30
RIC @ Johnson & Wales 7 PM
Worcester @ Dartmouth 7 PM

[7express]

Thursday:

Amherst 74-56
RIC 61-57
Dartmouth 76-65

[amh63]

7-express...you are getting real good at this.  Amherst wins over ECSU today 66-51 in LeFrak.  Sort of the same pattern by the Warriors against the CAC teams....get way behind by double digits only to make a strong recovery in the 2nd half...only to fall short.  Harder to win away from Home..ergo bigger point spread.  Warriors have a good team.  Should do fine in the conference.

[7express]

7-express...you are getting real good at this.  Amherst wins over ECSU today 66-51 in LeFrak.  Sort of the same pattern by the Warriors against the CAC teams....get way behind by double digits only to make a strong recovery in the 2nd half...only to fall short.  Harder to win away from Home..ergo bigger point spread.  Warriors have a good team.  Should do fine in the conference.

Conference is officially a 1 bid league this year.  Not even at the first Saturday of December and I already know this, smh.  I know it would've been hard-pressed for Eastern to win 2, yet alone 3 of those games, but c'mon, win one!!

[7express]

Amherst flunks Eastern, beats the Warriors 66-51.
Ali Doswell had 21 to lead the Jeffs and Marley Giddins had 10 points and 12 rebounds.  Jill Ritrosky had a team high 20 for Eastern.   Amherst is @ Bridgewater Saturday, while the Warriors are @ RIC for the conference opener for each team.

J&W over RIC 69-56. 
Raquel Pederzani had a game high 22 points for the Wildcats; Devin Hill had 17 to lead the Anchorwomen.  Wildcats are @ Brandeis Saturday, RIC host Eastern

Dartmouth over Worcester 70-50.
Shannen El-Qasem had 12 points & 10 rebounds, both team highs for the Lancers.  Megan Ronaghan had a game high 22 for the Corsairs who also got 10 points & 11 rebounds from Erin Fahey and 11 points & 8 assists from Kelsey Garrity.  Lancers play Mount St. Vincent Saturday, while the Corsairs are at Plymouth State Saturday.

29-21 LEC; 36-13

Saturday schedule, LEC opening day, all games at 1 PM.

Boston @ Keene
USM @ Western
Eastern @ RIC
Dartmouth @ Plymouth

Superlatives:
Best game: USM @ Western.  Games in Danbury the last few years have always been very exciting.  Last year USM won by 2 with 2 free throws inside of 10 seconds, 2 years ago USM was unbeaten ranked #11 and suffered their first and only regular season loss that year in Feldman arena, the year before that USM won by 1 in overtime.
Most important game: Eastern @ RIC.  Eastern has lost 3 in a row, getting a big fat "F" on their 3 tests; RIC is struggling at 1-6 and the season is starting to slip away.
Worst game: Don't think either Boston/Keene or Dartmouth/Plymouth is that terrible.  However, if Dartmouth was playing at home this would be a slam-dunk choice.  As it is, I'll go Keene/Boston, if only because Dartmouth only won by 4 up there last year, Plymouth is definitely better than last year, and I'm still not sold on the Corsairs winning important road games.