Box Score DANBURY, Conn. – University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's basketball junior Taylor Flood (Sanford, Maine) grabbed an offensive board, drew the foul and then calmly sank two free throws in the waning moments of regulation to hand-deliver a 57-55 win over the Western Connecticut State University Colonials in a Little East Conference game Saturday afternoon at Feldman Arena.
With the win, Southern Maine improves its record to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in the Little East Conference. Western Connecticut drops to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the conference.
Flood, who finished with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, grabbed the offensive board off of a miss from senior Erin McNamara (West Newbury, Mass./Pentucket Regional) with second remaining and was fouled on her attempted put-back with just 0.2 seconds on the clock. With the game on the line, Flood calmly sank the only two free throws she attempted in the game for the win.
The Huskies also received an outstanding performance from sophomore forward Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee). Pelletier scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds – both game-high and season-best totals – for her first double-double of the season. Pelletier was an outstanding 10-for-16 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. McNamara added 13 points for the Huskies.
Freshman Maggie Eberhardt (Thomaston, Conn.) led the Colonials with 17 points on a 7-for-11 effort, while Kerrie Stolle (Warren, Conn.) tossed in 14 points and dished out four assists.
Behind 13 first-half points from Pelletier, the Huskies seemed in control of the game, taking a 32-21 lead at the break. However, the Colonials mounted a furious comeback bid and took a 38-35 lead over USM midway through the half. The Colonials outscored the Huskies 11-0 in the first five minutes of the second half to knot the score up at 32 with 14:22 to play. Four different players scored for the Colonials in the run, led by five points from junior Caroline Brasa (East Hartford, Conn./East Catholic).
A layup from Pelletier and one of two free throws from senior guard Mariah Callender (Portland, Maine) temporarily halted the Colonials run to give USM a 35-32 lead with 11:31 to play, but six straight Colonial points, capped by a jumper from Eberhardt gave Western Connecticut its first lead (38-35) since first five minutes of the game.
Trailing 42-40 with 8:23 to play, Pelletier took over for the Huskies scoring the next seven points of the game for a 47-42 lead with 5:11 on the clock. Eberhardt then took control for the Colonials with a pair of book-end as part of a 10-4 run as Western Connecticut assumed the lead, 52-51, with 2:50 to play.
In the ensuing minutes, both teams squandered possessions before USM rallied for four straight points on layup from Callender and two free throws from McNamara for a 55-52 lead with just 17 seconds to play. However, Western Connecticut was not done as Brasa hit a three to even up the score at 55 with just eight seconds to play to set up Flood's heroics.
Southern Maine finished the game shooting 43.4 percent (23-for-53) from the field and 33.3 percent (4-for-12) from the three. The Huskies were 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. Western Connecticut shot 38.8 percent (19-for-49) from the field but were 7-for-12 from three-point territory and had a 10-for-13 mark from the free throw line.
Southern Maine hosts UMass Boston on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.), while Western Connecticut hosts Eastern Connecticut on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.). Both games are Little East Conference contests.
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