Women's Basketball Outlasts Keene State, 58-52, In Overtime

TV3 Chartercom YouTube Coverage - 10 PM News Story | Game Highlights

Worcester, MA --- Senior Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) poured in 16 points and corralled 15 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season to help lead Worcester State to a 58-52 triumph in overtime over Keene State on "Math Madness" day at the Lancer Gym.

This afternoon the Lancers (7-7) hosted their fourth consecutive "Math Madness" event for several local elementary school students and a middle school to help local children enrich their mathematics skills through arithmetic.

Freshman Shannen El-Qasem (Rutland, MA) also paced the Blue and Gold with 11 points and eight rebounds as sophomore Meaghan Burns (W. Brookfield, MA) added 10 points and six boards with a game-best four assists.

Charette, came into the game needing just 17 points to reach the 1,000 point milestone, ended the game one point shy. She would finish pitching in with three steals and a trio of helpers.

Keene State (8-4) was led by fourth-year Courtney Cirillo (Windsor Locks, CT) who netted a game-best 23 points with 17 rebounds including 11 of which came off the offensive glass as she added five swipes. Cirillo would finish the contest 13-for-18 from the free throw line.

The other standouts for the Owls included senior Sara Laudano (North Haven, CT) and junior Siobhan Carnell (Quincy, MA) who chipped in with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Keene State erased an eight point deficit at the 11:37 mark of the second half as the Lancers led 35-27. Slowly but surely, the margin would be reduced over span of seven minutes as they would outscore their hosts 14-4, eventually taking the 41-39 advantage on a trey by senior Niki Cote (Ashford, CT) with 4:25 remaining.

The capacity crowd make some noise for the home team as they would enjoy seeing four lead changes and a pair of ties over the next four minutes of action.

A jumper at the top of the key by Burns knotted the score 49-49 with 47 ticks remaining as the Owls would receive a bulk of their offense from Cirillo who was four-for-four from the charity stripe with two-point bucket.

With the ball on Keene State's baseline, the two squads would turn the ball over twice – going coast to coast each time – before the Lancers were whistled for a five-second violation with 15 seconds left. The WSU defense would do an outstanding job to not allow an easy basket as they stifled the Owls who missed a jumper in the waning seconds of regulation to force the extra session.

Worcester State would go on the offensive early on in overtime and never looked back. Burns converted a lay-up with 4:17 on the clock and then Charette registered a traditional three-point play 60 seconds later to give WSU the five point cushion (54-49).

Cirillo made the front end of a double bonus opportunity to get within four points at the midway point, but the Lancers would ice the game making four of their last eight attempts from the charity stripe for the final score.

To start the game the Blue and Gold jumped out to a 20-6 lead over the first 13 minutes courtesy of a sluggish performance from the field by Keene State who started the contest making just one of their first 14 tries from the field.

The Owls got as close as seven points with 28 seconds remaining in the opening frame, but Charette gave her team a boost with lay-up at the buzzer to help Worcester State lead 26-17 at the intermission.

Out of the locker room, Keene State used an aggressive stance to throw the Lancers off of their game as they inched closer by getting to within five points twice before surging ahead on their second-half run midway through the stanza.

Worcester State held advantages in the paint (24-16) and points off turnovers (10-5) while the Owls led in total rebounds (47-38) and dominated the offensive glass (18-9).

The Lancers shot a modest 37 percent from the floor (18-for-49) while Keene State shrugged off a porous afternoon around the basket. The Owls connected for just 13 of their 60 attempts while they only hit four of 22 from three point land.

There were a combined 58 free throw attempts between both squads as two fifths of Keene State's offense came from the charity stripe (22-for-30 – 73 percent).

The two clubs resume their respective conference schedules on Saturday. Charette looks to become the 17th women's basketball player to join the 1,000 point club on the road against MCLA at 3 o'clock while the Owls entertain Plymouth State in a rivalry match at 1 PM.