PSU Women's basketball suffers tough loss to RIC

The PSU Women's basketball team was eliminated from contention from entering the Little East Conference tournament when they lost to Rhode Island College on Saturday, February 20. RIC knocked off PSU by a score of 67-55 at The Murray Center in Rhode Island. With the victory, RIC advances to the LEC tournament and will play Keene State College on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00pm. The game amounted to be an essential playoff game for PSU who would have secured the sixth and final seed in the LEC Tournament with a victory. Instead, PSU finished tied with UMass Dartmouth but lost the tie-breaker. Both teams came out battling in the first 10 minutes of the game as PSU held the lead at 14-13 at the 11 minute mark; but RIC would close the half on a crushing 20-2 run that gave them a comfortable 40-26 halftime lead. PSU cut the RIC lead in half through the first seven minutes of the second half as they pulled to within 47-41, and eventually pulled to within 51-48 with five minutes remaining in the game. RIC once again had a hot streak and closed the game on a 16-7 run. RIC pressured PSU's offense with a smothering defense that forced 15 turnovers and held PSU shooters to only 33%. RIC also controlled the board and outrebounded PSU 45-35.PSU sophomore foward Alicia Doucet had a game-high 21 points while senior captain and forward Laura Kent added 14 points and nine rebounds. RIC was led by senior guard Alice Mullen who scored 19 points, while senior guard Denise Scott added 17 points and junior guard Lauren Harrington chipped in with 10 points.Going into the game, PSU wanted to control the paint and prevent the RIC shooters from driving the lane. "Our plan was to slow the game down and control the clock and ball.  We knew we had to protect the paint and contain their dribble drive," Lavigne said, "Our zones were effective until we had a two minute lapse of turnovers and three three-point shots."Coach Lavigne was happy with the way her team battled back despite being down by 20 points at one point, "In the 2nd half our 1-3-1 zone defense put us back in the game and we cut the lead and controlled the game. We actually outscored them in the 2nd half," said Lavigne, "Our team showed a lot of courage to fight back and cut a 20 pt deficit to two points. Our offensive struggles again caught up to us."PSU will now wait to see if they receive an invitation to the ECAC New England Tournament. The invitations will go out on Monday, March 1.