GORHAM, Maine– Senior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) led a balanced offense with a game-high 16 points as the University of Southern Maine Huskies overcame an early deficit to defeat the Bates College Bobcats 65-56 in a non-conference women's basketball game Tuesday night at Hill Gymnasium.

With the win, Southern Maine evens its record at 2-2.  Bates remains winless on the season dropping to 0-3. 

Ramonas was 5-for-12 from the field with six rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals to lead the Huskies. Senior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) added 11 points and three rebounds, shooting 5-for-9 from the field in limited minutes.  Senior Gretchen Anderson (Kittery Point, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas), sophomore Miranda Nicely (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue) and freshman Alexa Srolovitz (Montreal, Quebec/New Hampton) scored nine, eight and seven points a piece. 

Bates sophomore Nina Davenport (Freeport, Maine) led the Bobcats with a double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds.   Junior Allie Coppola (Tarrytown, N.Y./Hackley School) and senior Chelsea Nason (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) each scored 12 points.

Bates jumped out to an early 9-0 lead sinking consecutive three pointers from Davenport and Nason.  Stunned by the early hot-shooting of the Bobcats, Southern Maine trailed 14-5 with 5:40 left in the first quarter before rallying to take an 18-17 lead at the break.  After another Davenport three gave Bates its 14 points, USM ran off six straight points on a jumper from Nicely, a layup from Srolovitz and a bucket from Ramonas to trim its deficit to 14-11 with 3:12 to play.

Davenport stemmed the Huskies' run with a layup, but USM outscored Bates 7-1 in the final moments of the quarter capped by a three from sophomore Kayla Stacy (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) to take an 18-17 lead.

In a defensive second quarter, USM outscored Bates 10-9 to take a narrow 28-26 lead at the half. Ramonas and freshman Kimberly Howrigan (Fairfield, Vt./Bellows Free Academy) had four points each in the quarter for USM.

Clinging to a one-possession lead to start the second half, the Huskies' got another three from Stacy and a tough basket in the paint from Ramonas to extend their lead to 33-26 with 6:48 to play in the quarter.  Bates used a 5-1 run, capped by a Davenport jumper at the 3:04 mark, to again pull to within one possession but the Huskies responded with a 9-2 run to grab its largest lead of the game, 43-33, with 1:08 in the third.  Five different players scored in the run for the Huskies.  Bates closed the quarter with a three from sophomore Lyse Henshaw (Brunswick, Maine) to trail 43-36.

In the fourth quarter, Pelletier dominated the paint scoring six of her 11 points in the first five minutes. Pelletier's layup at 4:44, off of an adept pick-and-roll assist from sophomore Kristie McNall (Wakefield, Mass.) capped a 14-8 run for the Huskies and gave them a 57-46 lead.

After Pelletier's layup, Bates charged back to within two possession, 57-52, with 3:25 to play following an 6-2 run led by four points from Coppolla.  However, Pelletier again came up big for the Huskies' with a bucket in the paint to make it 59-57 with 2:17 to go and the Huskies' closed the game out on the line making 6-of-8 down the stretch for the win.

Southern Maine returns to action on Sunday (5:30 p.m.) at local rival St. Joseph's College (Maine).  Bates hosts Colby on Sunday (2:00 p.m.).

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