BIDDEFORD, Maine – The University of New England took control early and left no doubt down the stretch in a 63-38 victory over Hartford in Tuesday night's No. 4/No. 5 first-round matchup in the 2025 Conference of New England Women's Basketball Championship inside the Harold Alfond Forum on Coach Beaudry's Court.
 
The win sends the Nor'easters (15-11) to visit No. 1 Western New England, which enters the tournament with a 23-2 record, in Thursday's semifinal at 7:30 p.m. UNE upended the Golden Bears at home on Jan. 4, 56-52, to hand them their first loss of the season.
 
Hartford, which ends the 2024-25 campaign with a 10-16 overall record, scored the game's first points nearly three minutes in after an all-around slow offensive start, but never led again once the Nor'easters went up 3-2 on Sydney Jenisch's 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.
 
A stingy UNE defense held the Hawks to single digits in two different quarters, with Hartford putting up four in the first and seven in the fourth. Hartford finished the game shooting 21.8 percent from the field (12-for-55) and was just 2-for-18 from beyond the arc, including an 0-for-11 showing in the first half.
 
Faye Veilleux starred for the Nor'easters, matching Gabby Soter for the game high in the scoring column with 11, and grabbing 11 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season. Jenisch and Maddy Werner bolstered the balanced UNE attack, finishing with 10 points apiece. The Nor'easters took care of the basketball to the tune of a season-best five turnovers, all while Hartford committed 20 giveaways.
 
An early triple by Soter, who was 2-for-3 from deep, helped UNE find its footing offensively and hiked the Nor'easters lead to 11-4. After going into the second quarter with a 15-4 advantage, the lead only grew, eventually hitting 17 (32-15) by halftime.
 
Both offenses enjoyed their highest outputs of the game in the third quarter (18-16 in favor of UNE), but the Hawks cooled down quickly in the fourth. After making a 3-pointer on its opening possession of the final frame, Hartford didn't score again until the 2:33 mark.
 
With Tuesday's win in the books, the Nor'easters have reached at least the semifinal round of the conference tournament in every season since 2008-09 (excluding 2020-21). Thursday's semifinal matchup is the same as last season's title game, which saw Western New England pull out a 50-49 win over UNE. The winner will take on either No. 3 Roger Williams or No. 2 Endicott in Saturday's championship game.