CASTINE, Maine -- For the second time in 10 days, the University of Maine at Farmington women's basketball team came back from a double-digit deficit to defeat Maine Maritime Academy as the Beavers rallied for a 60-58 win over the Mariners this evening.
The Beavers (7-11 overall, 6-6 NAC) are scheduled to host Colby-Sawyer College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MMA, which lost to UMF 49-45 on Jan. 21, dropped to
The UMF victory completed a contest that was suspended back on Jan. 10 due to a power outage. Play resumed this evening with the Mariners leading 27-22 with a little more than a minute to play before halftime.
Maine Maritime's Casey McCloskey (Howland, Maine) put her team up 56-44 with 7:01 left in the contest. That's when the Beavers got busy, scoring on each of their next seven possessions. Paige Saunders (Surry, Maine) sparked the decisive 16-2 run with lay-ups on consecutive possessions en route to her 16 points in the game. Kenni Norton (Strong, Maine), who scored a game-high 17 points, took over with a layup, then banged home a three immediately after the Mariners Sam Goda (Eliot, Maine) gave her team their final points of the night. Kelsey Graffam (Falmouth, Maine) made it a one-possession game on the next trip before Rachel Clement (Gray, Maine) hit a trifecta to knot the game at 58-58 with 2:02 to play.
Saunders, who sparked the run, capped it with a layup on the next trip. Neither team found the hole over the final 84 seconds.
Maine Maritime had a player on the line with 18 ticks, but neither shot fell through. The Mariners got the rebound and missed a trey, before getting a desperation-inbound play with 2.5 left. Norton stole the pass to seal the win.
In addition to her 14 points, Norton gave the Beavers a team-high six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Saunders also grabbed six from the glass on a night she hit 8-of-11 shots from the floor. Clement hit 4-of-5 shots, including a 3-for-3 effort behind the arc to finish with a dozen.
McCloskey hit five three pointers, primarily in the second half, en route to a team-high 15 points. Goda finished with 14 points, while Maggie Smith (Bath, Maine) finished with 12. Leah Jackson (Dedham, Maine) pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds.