Sadie DiPierro registered a career-high 22 points to pace Big Blue, going 8-of-11 from the floor with six treys. Alicia Brownand Kelly Coleman added 15 and 14 points, respectively, and Gribbin contributed nine points along with eight assists.

UNE (2-1) has now won six of the last seven meetings against the Huskies (2-1).

The Nor'easters led by 10 (60-50) after DiPierro connected from long distance with 7:51 left, but Southern Maine responded with a 9-0 spurt, capped by 3-pointer by Stephanie Gallagher, to make things close.

The lead changed hands three times down the stretch, and Gallagher made a pair of freebies with 17 seconds remaining to give the Huskies a 68-65 cushion.

Gribbin came right back for a jumper in the lane to reduce the gap to one, only to have Gallagher convert the front-end of a pair to make it 69-67 with 11 ticks showing on the clock. Without a timeout, Gribbin worked her way into the right side of the paint for a short runner to force overtime.

USM gained a 73-72 edge with 1:56 to play in the extra session, but Alanna Vose knocked down a triple on the right wing on the next trip down to give the visitors an advantage they would not relinquish.

After three empty possessions and USM needing to foul, Gribbin added one free throw for a 76-73 lead. The Huskies were off in an attempt to tie, and Lauren Hayden dropped one more from the charity stripe with 0:04 left to seal the victory for UNE.

Hayden contributed a team-high seven rebounds and game-high six steals to the winning cause.

Southern Maine received 22 points and eight boards from Megan Pelletier. Lauren Rousseau tallied 15 points and six assists, while Knight chipped in with 12 points and 14 caroms. Ella Ramonas finished with 10 points for the hosts, who out-rebounded their opponents by a 42-35 margin.

For the game, the Huskies went 17-of-20 at the line and connected on 45.6 percent (26 of 57) shots from the floor. Conversely, Big Blue made just 8-of-15 free throws and made 41.1 percent (30 of 73) of its field goals tries. USM was hampered by 11 more turnovers (23) than UNE.

In the opening period, Pelletier had 10 points as part of 19-10 run that established a 25-16 Huskies lead just past the midway mark.

The Nor'easters answered with 15 straight points in 5:09 to assume a 31-25 buffer -- five different players scored in the stretch.

Southern Maine, though, managed a 36-35 advantage at halftime, shooting 50 percent from the floor. Pelletier went 6-for-6 in the frame and totaled 14 points in the initial 20 minutes.

UNE has six days off before returning to the Harold Alfond Forum on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.) to entertain No. 22 Bowdoin College. USM heads for Bates College the same night.