Box Score DANBURY, Conn. – Senior forward Courtney Cochran (Waite, Maine/Woodland) scored a career-high 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season to power the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a nail-biting 77-76 win over Western Connecticut State University in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Feldman Arena in Danbury, Conn.
With the win, Southern Maine improves to 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the Little East Conference. Western Connecticut falls to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the LEC. The Colonials two losses this season are by a combined three points.
Cochran scored 10 of her 34 points in the overtime period to clinch the key LEC win for the Huskies on the road. The 6-1 forward finished the game shooting 13-for-19 from the field and 8-for-11 from the free throw line. Cochran's 34 points is tied for seventh in single game points with former Husky great Maureen Burchill. Burchill holds the school record for points in a game with 47 set in the 1985.
USM senior guard Nicole Garland (Portland, Maine/Deering) added 16 points on 4-for-8 shooting from three-point range. Junior forward Haley Jordan (Falmouth, Maine) and Jordan Grant (Concord, N.H.) and senior guard Renee Nicholas (Sebago, Maine/Lake Region) each added nine points. Nicholas had a career-high seven assists and added five rebounds and a blocked shot, while Jordan added 12 rebounds.
Junior guard Nicole Eanniello (Danbury, Conn.) led four Colonials players in double figures with 16 points, including five three-point field goals as Western Connecticut hit 13 threes. Junior guard Carly Murphy (Wolcott, Conn.) added 15 and a team-high eight rebounds. Senior guard Stephanie Slonski (Griswold, Conn.) tossed in 13 points and had nine assists, while forward Jackie Zilnicki added 12 points and 17 rebounds.
Trailing by two with 2:04 remaining in regulation following a pair of free throws from Cochran, Western Connecticut's Slonski knotted the game up at 64-64 on a layup. Fouled on the play, Slonski missed on the ensuing free throw. The Huskies had a look at the basket to win the game in regulation twice in the final 10 seconds of play but were unable to capitalize.
In overtime, both teams traded baskets to open the second stanza as a layup from Cochran to start was followed by a three from Zilnicki for a slim 67-66 Western Connecticut lead. The Huskies responded with an 8-1 run. Cochran bookended a driving layup from Nicholas before Murphy broke the Colonials' drought with one of two free throws for a 72-67 USM lead. Cochran ended the Huskies' run scoring her eighth point of the overtime on a feed from sophomore guard Erin McNamara (West Newbury, Mass./Pentucket Regional) for a 74-68 Huskies' lead with 1:12 to play.
Eanniello canned a three on the Colonials' next possession to trim the deficit to 74-71, but Cochran again shouldered the Huskies with a layup for a 76-71 lead with 50 seconds remaining. After botched possessions on both sides of the ball, Zilinicki hit to free throws as the Colonials again clawed their way back to a single possession deficit, but Jordan made one of two free throws on the Huskies next possession to put the game out of reach despite a traditional three-point play from Murphy in the waning moments of overtime for the 77-76 win.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 47.3 percent (26-for-55) from the field and 67.7 percent (21-for-31) from the free throw line. The Colonials were 37.1 percent (26-for-70) from the field, but made 13-of-34 from three-point range (38.2 percent).
Southern Maine returns to action on December 30 (6:00 p.m.) when it hosts the Southern Maine Holiday Invitational. The Huskies will face MCLA in their first game of the tournament. Southern Maine will also host Babson College and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Western Connecticut faces Skidmore College on Sunday, January 1 (7:30 p.m.) in the Springfield Tournament.
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