WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – What goes around came around Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium in the back end of the Little East Conference regular-season women's basketball home-and-home series between Original Six conference rivals Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Southern Maine.

After losing by a pair at the end of regulation six weeks ago at the Warren Hill Gymnasium on a last-second inside shot by Tamrah Gould, Eastern (8-12, 6-5 LEC) turned the tables in the return matchup this time when first-year point guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) capped a game-high 14-point performance by coming off the bench in the final seconds for a buzzer-beater as time expired that pulled the Warriors even with the Huskies (8-12, 6-5 LEC) for third place in the conference with a 42-40 victory.

The victory was the first at home for Eastern in nearly two months and gives the Warriors their ninth win against USM in the last ten meetings. With the win, Eastern pulls even with USM in the standings and moves a game ahead of idle fifth-place Keene State College in the chase for a No. 3 or No. 4 seed that guarantees a first-round tournament home game Feb. 20.

Incredibly, Southern Maine went without a basket for the final 12 minutes Saturday, managing only one free throw after moving out to an 11-point, 39-28 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Eastern led by 12 late in the first quarter, but trailed by seven, 39-32 after three quarters. In the fourth, Eastern outscored the Huskies 10-1 when the visitors missed all 11 of their field goal attempts.

After USM missed the second of two free throws that would have given it a three-point lead with 1:22 left, Eastern first-year forward Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, NH) grabbed a rebound of a Southern Maine shot, and Clark put the ball into the hands of  first-year guard Julia Knowles (Waterford), who tied the game, 40-40, with a dramatic left-side jump shot with just under a minute left.

Knowles followed on the other end by grabbing a rebound in traffic with 14.9 seconds left after the second of two USM missed inside attempts. With the game tied, Clark was inserted into the lineup during a timeout. With 9.5 seconds left, the ball was inbounded by Knowles at midcourt to Clark in the backcourt. Dribbling to her left, the 5-foot-9 inch lefty received a pick from junior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) near the top of the key, and with time running out, headed down the left side of the lane before lofting a left-handed bank shot over 5-foot-5 inch USM senior guard Liz Cote for the winning points (her only points of the second half) as time expired.

Clark had set the tempo at the outset of the game by draining a pair of three-pointers that helped carry the Warrior to a 12-point, 15-3 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. USM, however, bounced back by limiting Eastern to 14 points in the middle two quarters and took that seven-point lead into the final quarter.

Salato had eight points and 12 rebounds in the first half and finished with her sixth double-double in the last nine games with 14 points,  a game-high 15 rebounds and three blocked shots. Clark also finished with 14 points to go along with four assists, four steals and four rebounds in 39 minutes, with senior guard Cara McGettigan (Southbury) helping the Warriors to a +17 advantage on the boards with a career-tying 11 (five offensive).

Returning gradually from an injury that took her out of the starting lineup a third of the way through the season, Paquette came off the bench to score six points on three field go attempts and two free throws, and grab five rebounds in 16 minutes. All of her points and four of her rebounds came in nine second-half minutes. Knowles contributed four points and five rebounds without a turnover in 27 minutes in a starting role.

With the exception of the third period, USM shot less than 25 percent  in each quarter. Gould was the only Husky in double figures, finishing with 13 points and five steals.

The loss was the third straight and fifth in the last six contests (all in the LEC) for Southern Maine, which had won five of seven prior to that after a 1-5 start.

Playing the second of three straight LEC home games, Eastern hosts Western Connecticut Wednesday at 7 p.m.