Mar 01, 2014
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England erupted out to a 33-12 cushion on its way to a second straight Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Basketball Championship, finishing off a 61-50 victory over second-seeded Roger Williams University on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 1) in front of a record crowd of 742 at the Harold Alfond Forum.
Big Blue (26-2) earns the CCC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship, which will begin on Friday (Mar. 7) at 16 sites around the country. UNE will learn where and when it will put its 14-game unbeaten streak on the line when the LIVE selection show airs Monday (2:30 p.m.) on NCAA.com.
The Nor'easters are into the NCAA field for a fourth time in five seasons -- three by virtue of winning the conference championship. It is UNE's fourth time claiming the bid from the CCC, having already done so in 2001, 2010, and 2013.
Junior Kelly Coleman led all scorers with 18 points and had a team-high nine rebounds for Big Blue. Sophomore Alanna Vose came in off the bench to knock down three treys and end with 11 points. First-year Alicia Brown totaled nine points, eight rebounds, and five blocks.
UNE sophomores Meghan Gribbin and Sadie DiPierro added 10 and seven points, respectively. All eight of Gribbin's points in the 2nd half came at the charity stripe (8 of 10) in the last 1:31 of the contest.
For Roger Williams (22-6), sophomore Angelica Ariola tallied 12 points, and junior reserve Amanda Keane added 11 on 5-of-8 shooting. Senior Kaitlyn Bovee finished with eight points and nine rebounds for the Hawks, who held a 43-36 advantage on the glass.
RWU, making its first-ever appearance in the league final, was hampered by just 27 percent (17 for 62) shooting from the floor, and 10-of-20 accuracy at the free throw line.
Using the energy from the home fans, the Nor'easters led 10-0 after 5:03 of action, with six from Coleman and four from Brown.
Keane got the visitors on the board with back-to-back layups, but three-pointers by sophomore Lauren Hayden and DiPierro quickly bumped the margin into double digits.
The cushion peaked at 21 with 3:33 left in the opening period, and was 18 (37-19) at the halftime break. Big Blue connected on 59 percent (13 for 22) of its field goal attempts in the frame.
The difference stayed between 15 and 21 past the midway mark of the 2nd half, and stood at 19 (53-34) on a layup by Coleman with 7:42 to go.
But UNE was unable to score over the ensuing six minutes, and Roger Williams got 10 points back during the span to reduce the gap to 53-44. Bovee notched six points in the stretch.
A few freebies by Gribbin ended the scoring drought and had the lead at 10 (56-46) with 1:12 on the clock, only to see Keane pull the Hawks within seven on a three-pointer. Gribbin, however, closed things out with five more at the line to seal the deal on the program-record 26th victory of the season.
"You don't expect to have a start like the one we had, obviously," commented UNE head coach Anthony Ewing. "They're a good team, but this was their first time in the finals and I thought we could rely on our experience a little bit. Defensively, we wanted to keep them off-balance a bit and take away what they do well, and I think that was evident early on. The atmosphere was the best we've had and it certainly helped us get off to such a good start."
"What we've been able to accomplish this season is not easy... 26-2 is tough," Ewing added. "Week-in, week-out, we've taken everyone's best shot, and to bring a winning mentality and focus to each and every game is hard. This team has done exceptionally well and deserve all the credit; they stayed with me the entire time and have been receptive to the coaching throughout the winning. I'm really excited to see what's in store for this team coming up."
Defense was key to the Nor'easters' success in the CCC Championship, as Big Blue surrendered an average of 47.3 points over the three matches and limited opponents to 28.6 percent shooting from the field.
Big Blue (26-2) earns the CCC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship, which will begin on Friday (Mar. 7) at 16 sites around the country. UNE will learn where and when it will put its 14-game unbeaten streak on the line when the LIVE selection show airs Monday (2:30 p.m.) on NCAA.com.
The Nor'easters are into the NCAA field for a fourth time in five seasons -- three by virtue of winning the conference championship. It is UNE's fourth time claiming the bid from the CCC, having already done so in 2001, 2010, and 2013.
Junior Kelly Coleman led all scorers with 18 points and had a team-high nine rebounds for Big Blue. Sophomore Alanna Vose came in off the bench to knock down three treys and end with 11 points. First-year Alicia Brown totaled nine points, eight rebounds, and five blocks.
UNE sophomores Meghan Gribbin and Sadie DiPierro added 10 and seven points, respectively. All eight of Gribbin's points in the 2nd half came at the charity stripe (8 of 10) in the last 1:31 of the contest.
For Roger Williams (22-6), sophomore Angelica Ariola tallied 12 points, and junior reserve Amanda Keane added 11 on 5-of-8 shooting. Senior Kaitlyn Bovee finished with eight points and nine rebounds for the Hawks, who held a 43-36 advantage on the glass.
RWU, making its first-ever appearance in the league final, was hampered by just 27 percent (17 for 62) shooting from the floor, and 10-of-20 accuracy at the free throw line.
Using the energy from the home fans, the Nor'easters led 10-0 after 5:03 of action, with six from Coleman and four from Brown.
Keane got the visitors on the board with back-to-back layups, but three-pointers by sophomore Lauren Hayden and DiPierro quickly bumped the margin into double digits.
The cushion peaked at 21 with 3:33 left in the opening period, and was 18 (37-19) at the halftime break. Big Blue connected on 59 percent (13 for 22) of its field goal attempts in the frame.
The difference stayed between 15 and 21 past the midway mark of the 2nd half, and stood at 19 (53-34) on a layup by Coleman with 7:42 to go.
But UNE was unable to score over the ensuing six minutes, and Roger Williams got 10 points back during the span to reduce the gap to 53-44. Bovee notched six points in the stretch.
A few freebies by Gribbin ended the scoring drought and had the lead at 10 (56-46) with 1:12 on the clock, only to see Keane pull the Hawks within seven on a three-pointer. Gribbin, however, closed things out with five more at the line to seal the deal on the program-record 26th victory of the season.
"You don't expect to have a start like the one we had, obviously," commented UNE head coach Anthony Ewing. "They're a good team, but this was their first time in the finals and I thought we could rely on our experience a little bit. Defensively, we wanted to keep them off-balance a bit and take away what they do well, and I think that was evident early on. The atmosphere was the best we've had and it certainly helped us get off to such a good start."
"What we've been able to accomplish this season is not easy... 26-2 is tough," Ewing added. "Week-in, week-out, we've taken everyone's best shot, and to bring a winning mentality and focus to each and every game is hard. This team has done exceptionally well and deserve all the credit; they stayed with me the entire time and have been receptive to the coaching throughout the winning. I'm really excited to see what's in store for this team coming up."
Defense was key to the Nor'easters' success in the CCC Championship, as Big Blue surrendered an average of 47.3 points over the three matches and limited opponents to 28.6 percent shooting from the field.