Women to Start ECAC Tourney Tonight

The Women's basketball team will travel to Keene, N.H. tonight to take on the Keene State Owls in the first round of the ECAC Tournament. The Owls were denied an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after losing in the semi-final round of the Little East Conference Tournament to Eastern Connecticut State. The fourth seed in the ECAC tournament, Keene State holds a 20-7 record (which is identical to UNE's record), including a win over the Nor'easters in November.
The last time these two teams played was during the Keene State Tip Off Tournament. Despite being tied at the half, the Owls went on a 16-3 run early in the second half to pull away for good. UNE shot poorly during this came, and couldn't stop Keene State as they got hot in the second half. This game seemed like a three-point competition as a total of 58 treys were attempted by the two teams, 33 in the first half alone. Senior guard Alli Gamache had a career high 23 points in that game, twenty which came in the second half. First year guard Kelley Paradis had 11 points for the Nor'easters.
The Nor'easters will need to find a spark off the bench in tonights game, as both teams have about a 10 player rotation. Additionally, Keene State has the knack for swiping the ball away nearly 12 times a game from opponents. On the other hand, they are susceptible to turning the ball over, which will play into the hands of the UNE and their full court press.
UNE will have to stop Little East All-Conference stars Kristin Degou and Nicole Simmler. Degou and Simmler are the leading scorers for the Owls scoring 13.0 and 10.6 points respectively. Simmler creates all sorts of mismatches when she's on the floor. At 5'11", she can create havoc in the paint, but can also pop out and shoot from the outside, which drives defenses crazy.
UNE will have their hands full tonight, but will look to seek revenge on the Owls and continue thier season. The winner of tonights game will play the winner of top seeded Nichols and eighth seeded Plymouth State.