WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- The Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team got off to a 16-2 run in its season-opener against visiting Simmons College and eased to a 64-33 victory in the opener of the 33rd Annual Tip-Off Tournament Saturday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
The Warriors used a balanced offensive attack and staunch defense to power their way past the under-sized and over-matched Sharks of Simmons in the season-opener for both clubs.
The Warriors advance to play in Sunday's 3 p.m. championship game against Endicott College, which used a strong second half to wipe out a six-point halftime lead in a 58-47 victory over and Connecticut College. Simmons faces Conn College in the 1 p.m. third-place matchup.
During the tone-setting run to open the game, sophomore Shannon McCourt (New Fairfield) scored the first ten points of the game for the Warriors, while freshmen Brianna Leonard (Amherst, Mass.) and Megan Cardarelli (Manchester, Conn.) added four and two points, respectively. The Warriors kept up their stifling defense even after their hot shooting cooled as the first half wore on before heading into the locker room with a comfortable 36-15 lead on the strength of a 60.7 percent (17-28) to 33.3 percent (5-15) shooting advantage.
A bucket by junior Georgia Kostopoulos (Cambridge, Mass.) with eight minutes remaining in the first half pulled the Sharks to within 22-9. But Simmons would get no closer the rest of the way. Eastern came out firing again in the second half, charged by an 11-4 run fresh out of the locker rooms. The Warriors finished the game shooting an impressive 47.4 percent (27-57) compared to a 27.1 percent effort for Simmons. Each team took 11 attempts from the line with Eastern hitting on eight of its compared to just three successes for Simmons.
Eastern used a 9-0 run to take a 50-25 lead and turn it into a 59-25 lead with 3:32 to play, coming on the heels of a 6-3 spurt by Simmons. Senior Liz O'Connor (Milton, Mass.) hit an extra-long range three-point jumper from almost 30 feet as time expired.
Fourteen different players saw action for Eastern in the contest, with eight getting into the scoring column and all but one grabbing at least one rebound. McCourt led the Warriors with a game-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Joining McCourt in double figures were fellow sophomore Kristina Forsman (Newington, Conn.) and Leonard, with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Sophomore Taylor McBride (Willimantic, Conn.), senior Jaymie Sommers (Voluntown, Conn.), and freshman Erin Brooks (Billerica, Mass.) each tallied six while Cardarelli contributed five, and freshman Avi Morrison (Hampton, N.H.) poured in three points by canning the first three-point field goal attempt of her career.
Junior Leah Davis (Cranston, R.I.) led Simmons with nine points off the bench, while O'Connor and freshmen Jen Janiak (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Gracie Rolfe (Newton, Mass.) accounted for five points each. On the boards, four different players - O'Connor, Kostopoulos, Rolfe, and freshman Nicole Alberghini (Northborough, Mass.) - had three apiece for Simmons.