CASTLETON, Vt. – The third-seeded Castleton University women's basketball team won its Little East Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup against No. 6 seed Keene State Tuesday night, defeating the Owls 54-46 at Glenbrook Gym.

With the win, Castleton (16-10) moves on to the LEC Tournament semifinals and will face the No. 2 seed, Rhode Island College, Thursday at 6 p.m. in Providence, R.I. Keene State concluded its season at 7-19 with the loss.

Castleton shot 39.6 percent as a team in the victory, knocking down 19-of-48 from the field, including 6-of-14 from three. The Owls posted a 30.8 percent mark (16-of-52) overall and a 30.0 percent rate (6-of-20) from three. The Spartans held a narrow edge in rebounding, 38-32, while both teams were nearly even in turnovers—Castleton with 18, Keene with 17.

Elise Magro led all players with 17 points in the game, shooting 6-of-14 from the field and hitting 3-of-4 from three. Magro also had six rebounds and three assists for the Spartans. Alexis Quenneville added 15 points, four rebounds and four assists for Castleton, while Brooke Raiche had eight points, three rebounds and three assists. Katlyn Toomey led the team with seven rebounds.

Abby Grandmaison was the only Owl in double figures scoring, racking up 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting with three threes. Jordyn Burke added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds—five of which came on the offensive glass. Katie Martineau had six points in 15 minutes for the Owls.

The Spartans got off to a quick start, running out to an 11-4 lead through the first six-plus minutes of action. Keene State cut into the advantage late in the frame, narrowing the gap to six points—14-8—at the end of the first.

The second quarter tilted the court back towards the Owls, as Keene State cut into Castleton's lead once again. After Keene narrowed the gap to just four points early in the frame, Quenneville buried a three to give Castleton a seven-point lead once more—17-10. Arianna Herbert then had a steal and a fast-break layup to cut the gap to five, sparking a 9-2 Owl run that narrowed the Spartan edge to just one point—19-18—forcing Castleton head coach Tim Barrett to call timeout. The Spartans responded with seven straight points out of the timeout, as Magro hit a three before finding Raiche for a fast-break bucket on the next possession. A jumper in the paint off an offensive rebound by Magro pushed Castleton's lead to eight, 26-18. Keene flipped the switch once more, closing the half on a 6-2 run over the final two minutes to cut Castleton's lead to just four—28-24—at halftime.

The Owls pulled within three on their first possession out of the break, answering a Castleton bucket with a three from Kenzie Bennett. That was as close as Keene got the rest of the way, however, as Castleton bounced back with a 4-0 run to take a 34-27 lead after Magro and Quenneville knocked down jumpers. The lead grew to nine points after two more baskets from Castleton—one from Delaney Whitehead and another from Toomey—but, Burke stopped the brief run with a jumper for Keene to make it 38-31 Spartans. After Magro and Martineau traded triples for each side, Keene pulled closer with a pair of free throws to make it 42-36 with 1:21 to play in the third. Castleton got the ball back with just eight seconds to play, and worked the ball to Raiche in the corner. Raiche raised up and nailed a three at the buzzer, sending Castleton to the fourth quarter with a 45-36 lead.

The lead reached double digits once more with 7:54 to play in the contest when Raiche finished a layup from Magro to give Castleton a 48-38 edge. The two sides traded scores before Grandmaison hit a three for the Owls to make it a seven-point game—50-43. Grandmaison hit yet another triple to pull the Owls within five, 51-46, but Castleton hit 3-of-4 from the free-throw line down the stretch to finish the contest with a 54-46 final.