DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College women's basketball team advanced to the ECAC Division III New England Women's Basketball Championship title game with a 58-53 victory over Keene State Saturday evening. The Bison, led by 17 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Jessica Nelson (North Providence, R.I.), will make the program's first appearance in the ECAC title game Sunday at 2 p.m. when top-seeded Nichols hosts second seed WPI.

Also scoring in double digits for Nichols (25-4) was sophomore Michele Guerin (Chicopee, Mass.), who added 14 points and six rebounds off the bench, and sophomore guard Ashley Robidoux (Milford, Mass.), who chipped in with 12 points.

Junior forward Nicole Simmler paced Keene State (21-8) with a double-double, netting 10 points to go with 10 rebounds, while junior guard Kristin Degou added 12 points. Freshman guard Courtney Cirillo chipped in with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Neither team was able to put a point on the scoreboard until almost three minutes into the game, and the scoring was slow for both teams in the opening half, as a Lyndsey Bennett (No. Brookfield, Mass.) jumper gave Nichols a 10-7 lead at the midway point of the stanza.

A pair of Cleaveland free throws with 6:38 left in the half put the Owls up by three, 13-10, but Nichols sprinted out to a 7-0 run before Keene State called a time out to regroup. The Owls then sank a pair of three-pointers, first from Degou and then from Sarah Laudano to knot the game again, 19-19.

Nichols answered back with a pair of threes – one from Alena Jasinski (Canton, Conn.) and another from Guerin – amidst an 8-4 run to carry a 27-23 lead into the locker room.

The Bison held the Owls to just six points in the opening seven minutes of the second frame while putting up 11 points, including a pair of treys from Robidoux, who finished 3-for-6 on the night from beyond the arc.

Nichols led by as many as 12 points at the 11:48 mark, but a 7-0 Owls run capped by a Simmler three brought Keene State back within five at 7:40.

The Bison pushed ahead again to a 10-point margin before the Owls again used the long ball to get within four with 1:57 remaining. The Bison hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to push ahead by eight, but a Cirillo three-pointer at the buzzer cut the final to 58-53.

The Bison shot 32% from three-point land and 38% overall on the night, while Keene State was 26.5% from three-point range, taking 34 of its 63 total field goal attempts from beyond the arc. The Bison held a slim rebounding advantage at 41-38.

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