Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Junior forward Haley Jordan (Falmouth, Maine) led three players in double-figures as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Colby College Mules 73-67 in a non-conference women's basketball game Tuesday night at Hill Gymnasium in Gorham, Maine.
The win is the sixth straight for Southern Maine and improves its record to 16-4. Suffering its second straight loss the Mules dip to 13-5 on the season.
Jordan was 5-for-13 from the field and 13-for-16 from the free throw line to lead the Huskies. The 5-9 forward added five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Senior guard Nicole Garland (Portland, Maine/Deering) filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, a team-high seven rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Senior forward Courtney Cochran (Waite, Maine/Woodland) added 13 points, five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Senior guard Kim Rivet (Bridgton, Maine/Lake Region) turned in a solid defensive effort for the Huskies logging 19 minutes off the bench with four steals and three assists.
Senior forward Jil Vaughan (Wareham, Mass./Tabor Academy) led the Mules with a double-double on 21 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Sophomore guard Jen Nale (Waterville, Maine) added 15 points, on five three-pointers, off of the bench, while senior guard Aarika Ritchie (Lee, Maine/Lee Academy) tossed in 10 points and had five assists and three steals.
Led by 13 points from Jordan, the Huskies led the Mules 33-23 at the half. Colby trailed USM by as many as 17 points, 31-14, with 3:50 remaining in the half, but were able to trim the lead to 10 on a 9-2 run to close out the half caped by a Nale three-pointer.
The Huskies were able to regain the momentum in the second half scoring the first six points. A Cochran steal led to a Garland jumper, sophomore Erin McNamara (West Newbury, Mass./Pentucket Regional) drilled a jumper of her own following a block and a defensive rebound from senior guard Renee Nicholas (Sebago, Maine/Lake Region) and Jordan finished a feed from Garland for 39-23 USM lead with 18:22 to play.
Colby continued to fight and was able to pull to within two possessions of the Huskies midway through the half. Following one of three Garland three-pointers, Southern Maine led the Mules 44-28 with 16:04 to play before the Mules stormed back to within four points, 48-44, on the heels of a 16-4 run with 11:18 remaining. Vaughan and Nale led the Mules' surge with six points each, including a pair of three-pointers from Nale.
The Huskies responded to the Colby run with an 12-2 run of their own receiving scoring contributions from five different players including a key three-pointer from Garland to lead 60-46 with 5:42 on the clock. The Huskies also turned up the defensive pressure holding the Mules to an 0-6 effort during the run and forcing them into three turnovers while coming up with three steals.
A three-pointer by Nale cut the Mule deficit to 60-49 with 4:24 remaining, but the Mules put the Huskies on the foul line twice over their next two possessions and Cochran capped a 6-2 mini-run for a 66-51 lead with 3:44 to play.
The Mules sent USM to the foul line four times in the final three minutes of action and the Huskies closed out the game with a 7-for-8 mark from the charity stripe, despite three-pointers from Ritchie and senior forward Rachael Mack (Augusta, Maine/Cony) and two buckets in the paint for Vaughan for the 73-67 final.
Southern Maine travels to Keene State College on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) for a Little East Conference game. Colby travels to Williams on Friday (6:00 p.m.) in a NESCAC.
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