With the win, Southern Maine nabs its third straight victory to improve to 7-3 overall. The win also propels the Huskies into the championship game. They will face Transylvania University (Ky.) at 8 p.m (MST) or 10 p.m. (EST). Transylvania defeated Pacific Lutheran 63-52 in the opening game. Transylvania is 8-1 heading into tomorrow's contest. Concordia-Chicago remains winless at 0-9.
McNamara was 4-for-9 from the field, including 3-for-6 from three-point range to pace the Huskies in 19 minutes of playing time. Gallagher was an outstanding 5-for-7 from the three-point line for her career-high 15 points. Gallagher's 15 points led the Huskies' bench in scoring which accounted for 44 of the Huskies' 75 points. Sophomore forward Taylor Hawkins (Lincoln, Maine/Mattanawcook Academy) added nine points off of the bench, while junior forward Rebecca Knight (Alfred, Maine/McAuley) added eight points and four rebounds in just nine minutes as 10 of the Huskies' 12 players contributed to the scoring. The stat of the night however belonged to junior guard Taylor Flood (Sanford, Maine) who set a career-mark in rebounding snagging 19 caroms, adding two points and a team-high four assists.
Freshman Miranda Rogers (Cypress, Texas/Houston Christian) paced the Cougars with 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting, making five threes while grabbing seven rebounds. Freshman Lauren Orr (O'Fallon, Mo./Lutheran St. Charles) added 10 points. Sophomore forward Angelik Young (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee) added eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Huskies held a modest 34-26 lead at the break. Gallagher led the way for the Huskies with nine points, while McNamara and Knight each had eight points in the first half. The Huskies' broke the game open in the first seven minutes of the second half using a 12-4 run to create some distance. McNamara scored the first points of the half on a driving layup, followed by a layup from sophomore Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) before sophomore Gretchen Anderson sank a pair of free throws for a 40-26 led with 17:50 to play. Concordia made one of two free throws to break up the USM run, before Anderson, McNamara and Flood each scored to give USM a 46-28 lead with 13:06 to play.
A three from Orr and one-of-two free throws from Morgan Jahnke over their next two possession pulled the Cougars to within 14, 46-32, with 12:30 on the clock, but USM ran off a 19-6 run over the next eight and a half minutes to lead 65-38 with 3:53 to play. Gallagher sank a pair of threes during the run and the Cougars never got closer than 27 points the rest of the way.
–cac–