KEENE, N.H.—UMass Boston women's basketball used red-hot shooting in the first half and balanced scoring, to down Keene State College 68-56 on Friday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium. 

THE BASICS
UMass Boston 68, Keene State College 56
(UMass Boston 8-13, Little East Conference 7-8) 
(Keene State College 9-13, Little East Conference 6-9) 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Beacons raced out to a 41-27 halftime edge to take control and never looked back in a huge conference victory. With the win, UMass Boston kept their hopes alive for the number four seed in the LEC Tournament and a home playoff game in the LEC Quarterfinals. 
 
UMass Boston shot 56 percent (14-25) from the field and 7-12 (58.3 percent) from distance in the opening 20 minutes. 
 
Senior Meg Dixon (Hanover, Mass.) posted her third-straight double-double and eight of the season in the win. She led the Beacons with 17 points (6-6 FT) and 14 rebounds, while playing all 40 minutes. 
 
Junior Keriann Farina (Arlington, Mass.) just missed a new career-high in points with 14 points on 10-12 shooting from the free throw line. She tacked on seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. 
 
Sophomore Sunny Green (Brewster, Mass.) was red-hot in the first half. The sophomore tied her career-high with 14 points, including 11 in the first two quarters. She went 5-8 from the field and knocked down four of the Beacons' nine 3-pointers (4-7). 
 
Sophomore Vienna Monestime (Framingham, Mass.) was the final Beacon in double-figures. She registered 10 points (5-11), two rebounds and two assists. 
 
Keene State junior guard Hailey Derosia led all players with 23 points and eight steals. She also added eight rebounds to tie for the team lead and went 9-19 from the field. 
 
Brianna Metellus and Aryanna Murray each chipped in 10 points apiece for the hosts, who saw their season-high four-game winning streak snapped. 
 
Keene State opened the game on a 5-0 run but that would be the last time the Owls would lead on Friday. UMass Boston responded with a 9-0 flurry that included baskets from Farina, Dixon, a Green 3-pointer and Monestime.
 
The Owls tied the game at 12 and 14, but Dixon knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the final 76 seconds of the quarter to give UMass Boston a 20-14 edge after one. 
 
UMass Boston carried the momentum into the second stanza, as they scored the first eight points of the quarter to make it a 14-0 run. Green and freshman Paige Ollivierre each knocked down 3-pointers and Green added a jumper to make it 28-14 with 7:36 left in the half. 
 
Keene State cut it to eight points with 2:49 left, only for UMass Boston to use one final run (8-0) to make it a 41-27 game at the break. 
 
The hosts held UMass Boston to just two points in the third quarter to make it a 49-43 game with 10 minutes to play. 
 
The Beacons came through with one more big flurry to put the game out of reach. After Keene cut the deficit to four (49-45) with 7:52 to play, UMass Boston went on an 8-2 spurt to push the lead back to 10. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston finished the game shooting 43.8 percent (21-48), a season-high 45 percent from distance (9-20) and 77.3 percent from the free throw line (17-22). 
• Dixon tied the program record for 3-pointers in a single-season with her three made 3-pointers. Her 59 threes are tied with Indya Mitchell ('04) and Kendra Mosley ('11) for most in a single-season. 
• With the win, UMass Boston improved to 7-8 in LEC play and are in a dead-heat with the University of Southern Maine (6-7) for fourth-place in the LEC. The Beacons host sixth-place Keene State (6-9) on Saturday, while the Huskies are at ninth-place Western Connecticut State University (2-12). If both teams win, the fourth-seed and home-court advantage in the LEC Quarterfinals would come down to tiebreakers. 
• The Beacons have won six of the last seven against Keene State and improved to 16-37 all-time against the Owls. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
UMass Boston will host Keene State College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in their regular-season finale. The Beacons will honor seniors Sarah St. Surin (Norwalk, Conn.) and Dixon before the contest.