DANBURY, Conn. — Junior Karli Spera (Waterford, Conn.) scored a game and season-high 25 points to lead the Western Connecticut State University women's basketball team to a 55-44 victory over intra-state and Little East Conference rival Eastern Connecticut Tuesday night at Feldman Arena. It was the Colonials 14th straight victory, tying the school record set during the 1989-90 campaign.

Also scoring in double figures for WestConn, and just missing a triple-double, was junior Melissa Teel (Hamden, Conn.) who had 15 points, 16 rebounds, and nine blocked shots. The nine swats establishes a new WestConn single season record for blocks with 89. Teel surpassed Meg Lyon who blocked 85 shot in her only season 1999-2000.

Leading the Eastern Connecticut offense were Lauren Kelleher (Dartmouth, Mass.) with 14 points and Brittany Whiteley (Windsor Locks, Conn.) with 11 points. Jessica Moriarty (East Haven, Conn.) led the Warriors on the boards with eight rebounds.

The Colonials trailed by as many as four points early in the game. Whiteley converted a lay in with 16:20 left in the first half to give the Warriors a 4-0 advantage.

The game would be deadlocked three times before Spera canned a long three pointer with 10:08 remaining in the first stanza to give WestConn a 17-15 lead that it would never relinquish. The hometowners would build a 13 point lead, 31-18, when Heather Lee (Seymour, Conn.) canned the back end of two free throws with 4:03 remaining before intermission.

The Warriors trimmed their deficit to eight points at the break and drew within six points in the opening seconds of the second half, but could not get any closer the rest of the way.

WestConn, now 17-2 overall and unbeaten in the Little East Conference at 8-0, travel to University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Saturday, January 30 for a 1 p.m. tip.