Owls Topple Bison 61-47

 DUDLEY, MASS 11/18/08 - The Keene State women's basketball team remained undefeated   (3-0) with a 61-47 non-conference road victory against Nichols College on Tuesday night. It's the third game in a row the Owls have held an opponent under 50 points.

Junior guard Kristin Degou (Newburyport, Mass.) scored a game-high 17 points and senior point guard Michele Boudreau (Readsboro, Vt.) finished with a season high 15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds,and four steals to lead the Owls.

Trailing 19-18 with 3:09 to play in the first half, the Owls outscored the Bison 10-2 to take a 28-21 halftime lead.  Degou, who finished the game with five three-pointers, hit one in the right before the break.

Keene State opened up a 12 point lead (33-21) on a jumper by junior Alyssa Sapp (Harford, Vt.) early in the second half.  The Bison cut the lead to five points on a lay-up by Marylynn Skarzenski with 5:25 to play.

The Owls scored the next eight points.  A basket by freshman forward Amanda Bacher (Concord, N.H.), a three-pointer by freshman guard Sarah Laudano (North Haven, Conn.) and free throws by junior forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.) pushed KSC's lead back up to 13 points (43-56) with 3:14 to play.

Bacher finished with eight points and seven rebounds for the Owls. Simmler pulled down a team high 11 rebounds.

Margaret Lilly topped the Bison (1-1) with 12 points.

Keene State hosts Johnson and Wales University in a first-round game of the KSC Tip-off Tournament on Friday (3 p.m.).