With the win, Southern Maine is 1-0 in the Little East and improves to 4-3 overall. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Colonials who stand at 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Knight posted her second double-double of the season notching her game-high 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 mark from the charity stripe. Knight added three assists. Junior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) continued her strong start to the season scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Senior Stephanie Gallagher (York, Maine) tossed in 10 points, while junior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) added eight points and seven rebounds.
Senior Caroline Brasa (East Hartford, Conn./East Catholic) led the Colonials with 11 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Colleen Cosker (East Hartford, Conn./Cheney Tech) and freshman Kayla Briere (Wolcott, Conn.) each had seven points for WSCU, which shot 26.7 percent (12-for-45) from the field.
In a low-scoring game, Southern Maine led from the start, but did not take its 2-0 lead until senior Taylor Flood(Sanford, Maine) connected on a jumper 2:05 into the game. The Huskies' never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 12, 19-7 with 6:34 to play, before the Colonials charged back with a 9-0 run to trail 19-16 with 4:09 on the clock.
Ramonas, who was fouled attempting a three-pointer, sank three consecutive free throws for the Huskies' 19-7 lead. WSCU's Briere and junior Kerri Stolle (Warren, Conn./Wamogo) each hit jumpers before Brasa canned a three for a 7-0 swing. Briere closed the run with a pair of free throws. With its lead trimmed to one possession, the Huskies' narrowly outscored the Colonials 8-6 to close out the half for a 27-22 lead.
USM opened the second half with a 6-2 run on baskets from Pelletier, Knight and Ramonas to lead 33-24 with 18:09. WCSU responded with an 8-0 run to again pull to within a basket of the Huskies 33-32. Cosker scored five points in the run, which was capped by a jumper from Briere.
After a 30-second time out, the Huskies' stemmed the WCSU run as Gallagher connected on a layup for a 35-32 lead before the game settled into a back-and-forth affair. A pair of free throws from Knight gave USM a 37-34 lead with 9:32 to play before sophomore Emily Dobson (Westerly, R.I./Westerly) and Stolle each made jumpers to give the Colonials their first lead of the game 38-37 lead with 5:47.
Trailing for the first time in the game, Knight fed Gallagher for a jumper and Flood came up with a steal and sank to free throws to return to scoreboard to the Huskies' favor 41-38. Brasa made two free throws in the Colonials next possession to make it a one-point game, 41-40 with 3:45 to play, but the Huskies rattled off the next 11 points to seal the win.
Gallagher keyed the run, sinking a layup off of a feed from Flood and Knight hit a jumper for a 45-40 lead with 2:01 to play. After a pair of missed possessions, Flood cleared the defensive boards with just over a minute to play. Flood finished the game with six points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Forced to foul, WCSU putt Gallagher on the line for two and she hit both while Pelletier and Ramonas combined for the final three points.
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