Pingelski scores 20 but Trailblazer women fall to Keene 59-52

North Adams, MA- The visiting Keene State women's basketball team got 20 points and 4 steals from Sandi Purcell and the Owls buried 13 three pointers as they held off the MCLA Trailblazers 59-52 in non conference women's basketball action this evening.  With the win, the Owls snap a two game slide and improve to 2-6 on the season.  The Trailblazers drop to 3-4 with the setback.

Purcell scored 12 of her 20 points in the closing half.  The senior connected on just 6-15 shots, but buried 5 three's to lead the Owl attack.  Teammate Emily McPadden notched 15 points, all of which came from beyond the arc, as she also went 5-13 shooting from deep.  Lilly Shlimon added 11 points for Keene.

The Owls led almost the entire way.  They led 12-7 after one quarter of play, then 23-21 at the half.  MCLA took their only lead of the night at the 7:24 mark of the third quarter on Emily Moulton's bucket in the paint, but Keene immediately answered with a three point play from Shlimon to retake command.   The Owls never trailed again, however they also never pulled away.  Heading to the fourth quarter, the Owls maintained a 38-34 lead over the Trailblazers.

MCLA immediately cut the lead to one on Sam Gawron's triple, but Keene's Purcell drained back to back three's making it 44-37.  MCLA got within three at 44-41 following a Pingelski layup, but McPadden and Purcell buried three's sandwiched around a L'Rae Brundige bucket making it 50-43 with just 4:51 left to play.  MCLA got within four points again at the 2:48 mark on Pingelski's three, however that's as close as they would get as the Owls answered with a pair of free throws from Jasmin Mitchell.  The dagger ultimately came with under a minute to go when Keene's Kenzie Bennett nailed a deep trey to put the Owls up 7 and they never looked back.

In total, the game featured 51 attempts from beyond the arc.  Keene shot 13-37 from deep (35%) while MCLA made 6-14 (43%) attempts.  The Owls overcame 13 turnovers, 9 of which came in the opening half of play in the win.  MCLA turned it over 16 times.

The Trailblazers were led by Pingelski's team best 20 point, 7 rebound effort.  The junior was 7-13 from the floor and added 3 steals.  Brundige ended with 13 points, but was just 6-18 shooting.  Gawron ended with 10 points in defeat.

MCLA is back in action on Thursday when they host Simmons in the semester finale at 6pm.