WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Castleton University women's basketball team battled a tough Eastern Connecticut State program on Thursday evening in the Little East Conference Tournament semifinals, falling 61-49.
 
The fourth-seeded Spartans conclude the season 17-10 overall, while top-seeded Eastern advances to face the No. 2 seed Rhode Island College for the championship on Saturday.
 
Elise Magro led Castleton with 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Kelly Vuz joined her in double figures with 12 points. Vuz was 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. Liz Bailey had six points and four boards while Gwyn Tatton added five points and five rebounds.
 
Anna Barry had 19 points and 13 rebounds with Mariah Dunn adding 14 points and five boards. Julie Keckler added nine points.
 
Castleton shot 28.8 percent from the floor as a team, while Eastern made 41.0 percent on the night. The Warriors won the rebounding battle 46-36, but Castleton committed only nine turnovers to Eastern's 12. The Spartans turned those turnovers into 23 points, capitalizing well on ECSU miscues.
 
Castleton led 6-2 early thanks to a pair of layups and a pair of free throws, but Eastern Connecticut closed out the first quarter with eight unanswered points to lead 10-6 after 10 minutes.
 
A five-point burst in the second quarter put Castleton ahead 13-12, and a Magro layup later in the frame tied the score at 15-15. Eastern pulled ahead 19-15, but Vuz knocked down a three to make it a one-point game nearing halftime. A late layup by Barry send the top seed into the locker room leading by three, 21-18.
 
The Warriors opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 29-18 lead and stretched the edge to 34-20 when Jaclyn Santella hit a three. Magro hit back-to-back triples for Castleton to narrow the deficit to eight points, 34-26, but another five-point outburst gave ECSU a 39-26 lead. Magro got those five points back before the end of the quarter, hitting a jumper and a three to go to the final quarter down by eight points.
 
Eastern scored the first five points of the final frame to regain a 13-point edge, but a pair of layups by Castleton cut it back to nine points. Tatton dropped in a layup and then made a three to make it an eight-point game, 48-40, but Castleton was never able to get any closer as ECSU began to pull away late, closing the night on top 61-49.
 
The Spartans graduate four players from this year's squad, with six players slated to return for the 2023-24 campaign.