Eastern Connecticut State University's Victoria Pfohl Helps Women's Basketball Win Little East Conference Championship

2015 Mar 2

Victoria Pfohl '16, of Trumbull majoring in Physical Education, won the Little East Conference championship in women's basketball with a score of 64-62 against University of Massachusetts- Boston in overtime.

Sophomore guard Jordyn Nappi put an 0-of-18 shooting stretch behind her by sinking five straight three-point field goals off the bench in the second half - scoring all of her career-high 25 points after the break - to lift the top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team to the 2015 Little East Conference championship with a 64-62 overtime victory over third-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston Sunday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

"It's been an amazing ride," noted head coach Denise Bierly afterward to Eastern Director of Broadcasting Nick Aconfora. "I'm so proud of our senior class, which went from winning eight games and not even making the Little East tournament as freshmen to now being the regular-season and tournament champion. I couldn't be prouder of a group of young women," added Bierly, who has led the Warriors to three of the program's four LEC tournament titles in her 21-year career." I also give a lot of credit to UMass Boston, which gave us everything that we could handle."

Named the tournament's MVP, Nappi had missed her first 18 field goal attempts this weekend and 21 of 24 in three tournament games before swishing five consecutive three-point field goals in a span of five minutes in the second half. Her first two three-pointers in the stretch pulled Eastern (20-8) to within one point, the third tied the game and the fourth and fifth came on consecutive times down the floor and pushed the Warriors into a four-point lead with just under six minutes left.

After UMass Boston (19-9) freshman guard Grace Geary forced overtime with a long three-pointer in front of her own bench in the final seconds of regulation, Nappi vaulted the Warriors in front for good in overtime with her sixth three-pointer, and after a UMass miss and rebound of senior guard Kristina Forsman, Nappi made it a four-point Eastern lead (59-55) with her seventh three-pointer in a span of 14 minutes with just under two minutes left in the extra session.

The Warriors failed on five of 12 free throws in overtime but had enough to hold on. Nappi sank both ends of a two-shot bonus with 21.2 seconds left to make it 63-59. With Eastern leading by five, however, Geary connected on her third basket from long range to make it 64-62. The Warriors missed two more free throws with 3.0 seconds left. Freshman guard Katie Mathieu pulled down the rebound, but the Beacons were unable to get off a potential game-winning shot as time expired.

The Warriors followed up a 2-for-14 three-point exhibition in the first half by draining ten of 17 after the break.

Nappi was Eastern's only double-digit scorer but six-foot sophomore center Lindsay Langenauer - making only her second start of the season - grabbed 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Julia DePoi had nine points - all coming on three-point field goals - and senior guard Taylor McBride contributed seven points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals

Geary scored 13 of her team-high 20 points after the break (7-for-14 from the floor in the game) and added six rebounds and five assists. UMass's dominant inside duo of 6-foot-2 inch senior Kirsten Morrison and six-foot junior Olivia Murphy combined for 23 rebounds, 25 points and five blocked shots, converting 12 of 19 attempts from the floor.

After the break, Murphy scored ten of her 12 points and grabbed nine of her game-high 13 rebounds and Morrison scored 11 of her 13 points. Sophomore guard Taje Burston's three-point field goal two minutes into overtime provided UMass with its final lead before Nappi drained her final two three-pointers to make it 59-55 with just under two minutes left.

The Warriors shot less than 30 percent from the floor but scored 22 points off 27 UMass Boston turnovers.

In three tournament games, senior forward Shannon McCourt and Nappi led the Warriors in scoring with 40 and 36 points each. McCourt sank 52.9 percent of her field goals and Nappi (8-of-9) and junior forward Jill Ritrosky combined to connect on 14 of 17 free throws. Ritrosky averaged 9.3 rebounds, Langenauer 9.0 and Forsman 5.7. Nappi (8) and Forsman (7) combined on 15 of the team's 23 three-point field goals. McBride finished with 15 assists and six steals.

UMass was making its first-ever tournament final appearance. Eastern captured its fourth LEC championship - first at home in three tries and first as the top seed. The last title also came in overtime in the second-seeded Warriors' 65-60 triumph over No. 1 seed and host University of Southern Maine, in 2008. The LEC tournament meeting was the sixth between the teams but first after five previous first-round encounters. Eastern has won all six.

The game marked the first time that Eastern and UMass Boston had met in the championship game of any sport in the 29-year history of the Little East Conference.

The 20-win season is the 16th in program history for the Warriors and by gaining the automatic qualifier granted the LEC tournament champion, will be making its 14th NCAA Division III appearance.