FARMINGTON, Maine – New England College survived repeated second-half come-back bids by UMaine-Farmington and escaped Dearborn Gym with a 63-54 win over the Beavers on Friday night, in a North Atlantic Conference women's basketball matchup.

New England College guard Kayla Lawlor (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) paced the Pilgrims (7-2, 3-0 North Atlantic Conf.) with 18 points, while guard Kate Levy (Falmouth, Mass.) added 13 points with eight rebounds. Guard Markey Flewelling (Portsmouth, N.H.) rounded out the list of NEC double-digit scorers with 11 points.

Forward Taylor Burgess (Randallstown, Md.) logged nine points to go with a game-high nine rebounds.

UMaine-Farmington (1-7, 1-2 North Atlantic Conf.) was led by senior forward Kenni Norton (Strong, Maine/Mt. Abram) with 11 points, while freshman Meghan Smith (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) came off the bench to tally 10 points for the Beavers. Junior Holly Oliver (Belgrade Lakes, Maine/Messalonskee) hauled down six rebounds for UMF and dished out five assists, while finishing with six points. 

New England College led by six points, 30-24, at the break, but UMaine-Farmington pulled to within one possession of the Pilgrims on three separate occasions in the second half. The Beavers tied the game at 42-42 with 10:32 showing on the clock, following a jumper by Elizabeth Ferry (Winslow, Maine/Winslow). 

The Pilgrims answered by rattling off a 9-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes, with four different players charting points for NEC. Five straight UMaine-Farmington possessions ended with turnovers during the Pilgrims' run – nearly a quarter of the Beavers' season-high 22 turnovers on the night. 

The Beavers last got to within three points of NEC at the 3:37 mark on an Oliver layup, but a Lawlor trey for the Pilgrims ended the immediate threat. UMaine-Farmington missed both its field goal attempts over the final two minutes of play, while New England College protected its lead with a 5-of-6 effort at the foul line down the stretch.

UMaine-Farmington completes the conference weekend on Saturday, Dec. 8 when it hosts Colby-Sawyer College at 1:00 p.m. at Dearborn Gym. NEC continues its two-game swing through Maine on Saturday at Thomas College in a 1:00 p.m. tip.

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