KEENE, N.H. – The Vermont State University Castleton women's basketball team fell to Keene State on Wednesday night in Little East Conference action, dropping a 55-46 decision on the road.
Liz Bailey had a strong night for the Spartans (9-11, 3-8 LEC), netting a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Bailey shot 44.4 percent from the field and added a pair of blocks on the defensive end of the floor.
Stasia Epler had six points and
Emily Adams and.
Kathryn Moore had five points each.
Elise Magro added five rebounds and three assists in the game.
The two-headed monster of Brynn Rautiola and Valerie Luizzi led the Owls (9-9, 5-5 LEC) with the duo combining for 45 of Keene's 55 points in the contest. Rautiola had 28 and Luizzi finished with 17. Lilly Krysinski had 14 rebounds to tie Bailey for a game-high.
The first quarter was a defensive struggle, with neither team cracking double figures. The Owls led 8-6 after 10 minutes before the offense began to pick up slightly. The second quarter began with a pair of buckets by the Owls to extend Keene's lead to 13-6, but back-to-back layups by Magro and Epler pulled the Spartans within three. Rautiola added five straight points for the Owls before Bailey netted consecutive layups of her own to keep the Spartans within striking distance. The Owls went into the break on a 5-2 run to lead 23-16 at halftime.
Keene State got off to a fast start after halftime, using a 7-1 run over the first five minutes of the frame to open a 30-17 lead. The Spartans began to chip away from there, sparked in part by a four-point run to cut the lead back to 10 and a six-point stretch that narrowed the deficit to six, 36-30. A late jumper by Keene State sent the game to the final 10 minutes with the Owls leading 38-30.
The Spartans continued to battle, scoring the first four points of the fourth quarter to halve the lead back to 38-34 while holding the Owls off the board for nearly five minutes in the quarter. Rautiola scored on a layup and Luizzi hit two free throws for the Owls to push the lead back to 42-36, but four straight Spartan points—two each from Adams and Bailey—made it a one-possession game with 2:33 to play. Luizzi responded with a dagger three on the opposite end and a quick push down the floor after a Spartan miss led to a layup for Rautiola and a seven-point edge for Keene with less than two minutes to play.
The Spartans got within four points after a jumper by Bailey and 1-of-2 at the line from Adams, but Keene State scored six straight at the free throw line to ice the game. A late three by Moore gave the Spartans their final points as the game finished 55-46 in favor of the home side.
VTSU Castleton is back in action on Saturday at noon against UMass Dartmouth at Glenbrook Gym.
