GLENBROOK, Vt. -- Maine Maritime held a four-point lead against defending North Atlantic Conference (NAC) champions Colby-Sawyer with under a minute left in Friday's NAC women's basketball semifinal game at Castleton. The Chargers managed to even the game in regulation before handing the Mariners a 67-61 loss in overtime.
Colby-Sawyer will take on Castleton in Saturday's championship game.
Ashley Shine led Maine Maritime (17-10) with 17 points on 6 of 17 shooting. Bekah Campbell came off the bench to score 13 and Hannah Lyons added nine. Leah Jackson grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, dished out a game-best six assists and scored six points. Kari Jones also netted six points for MMA.
Three players reached double figures for the Chargers (18-9) led by Ashley Fruzzetti's game-high 18 points. Kelsey Bragdon added 17 and Kelsey Cahill 10 and nine rebounds. Jessica Shenkel added nine points and Katie McCarthy registered seven points, all from the line.
Holding a four-point lead, 48-44, and the ball with 43 seconds left in the game, Jackson was called for a Flagrant 1 foul after her elbow inadvertently struck Cahill on nose while Jackson was trying to dribble out of the left corner.
Rule changes enacted this season, according to the NCAA, state: "Illegal contact caused by the swinging of the elbow(s) and/or contact with the elbow that: a. Results from total body movement is a common or flagrant 1 personal foul; b. Is excessive per Rule 4-36.7 is a flagrant 2 foul; c. Occurs above or below the shoulders of an opponent is a common, flagrant 1 or flagrant 2 personal foul."
At the urging of MMA coach Craig Dagan the officials reviewed the foul on a monitor at the scorer's table but upheld the original call.
Cahill sank both free throws and the Chargers regained possession due to the foul. McCarthy was fouled on the ensuing possession and evened the game with a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left in the game.
The Mariners held the ball for the last shot but turned the ball over with four seconds left. Shine swiped the ball from McCarthy before she got to half court and coasted to the basket with under two seconds left. Her layup attempt as time expired found the backboard before hitting the front edge of the rim and sent the game into overtime deadlocked at 48-48.
After a Shine free throw evened the game at 50-50 with 3:36 left in the extra period, Jillian Perron gave the Mariners a 52-50 lead with a layup four seconds later. The Chargers took the lead for good when Bragdon connected from long distance to make it 54-52 with 2:44 on the clock.
A Shine trey with 1:31 left put the Mariners within one, 59-58, before a Shenkel layup on the ensuing possession made it 59-56. Campbell got Maine Maritime within one again on a layup with 1:01 on the clock but Chargers iced the game at the line going 8 of 8 in the final 26 seconds.
The teams opened play by exchanging the first four baskets in the first five minutes of action. A three-pointer from Cheyenne Malloy gave Maine Maritime a 7-4 lead at the 12:30 mark. Colby-Sawyer then rattled off 14 straight points capped by a Bragdon trey to take an 18-7 advantage with 7:08 left before the break. Over the next five minutes, the Mariners clawed back into the game with a 9-4 spurt with baskets from four different players to get within six, 22-16. The Chargers received the next three points of the contest from Fruzzetti but Mariners closed the half with five points -- three from Shine and two by Campbell -- to trail 25-21 at the break.
Maine Maritime controlled the glass 49-38 and shot at a higher rate 39.7%-33.9%, but the difference came at the stripe with the Chargers going to 21 of 31 and the Mariners 6 of 17 at the line.