Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore Bri Hochwarter (Attleboro, Mass.) scored a team-high 24 points off of the bench to help the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs to a 77-68 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium.
With the win, UMass Dartmouth earns its second straight to improve to 9-3 overall and 3-0. Suffering its first LEC loss of the season, USM dips to 2-1 in the conference and 6-7 overall.
In a back-and-forth battle that featured 11 lead changes, UMass Dartmouth had the last word en route to its first win on Hill Gymnasium in the 67 game series between the two schools. Southern Maine leads the series 64-3 after today's results.
Trailing 58-52 after a three-pointer from USM freshman Kayla Stacy with 10:17 to play, the Corsairs used a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to take control of the game. Hochwarter was instrumental in the run sinking back-to-back threes for six of the Corsairs' 10 points in the run which was capped by a traditional three-point play from junior Beth Castantini (Newburyport, Mass.).
Junior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) ended the Huskies' scoring drought with a tough layup in the paint to trim it to a 63-60 deficit, but the Corsairs bounced back five straight points to lead 68-60 with 3:33 to play. Pelletier again willed her team back scoring three-of-four free throws to trail 68-63 with 2:29 to go, but the Corsairs finished out the game strong from the free throw line making 9-of-12 from the free throw line for the win.
Hochwarter was 6-of-9 from the field – all from three-point range – and 6-of-6 from the free throw line to lead her team. Sophomore Megan Ronaghan (North Attleboro, Mass.) had 22 points and seven rebounds on 7-for-11 from the field. Castantini added 13 points, and five rebounds.
Pelletier continued her strong play for the Huskies, scoring 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, both game-high totals. Pelletier was 10-for-19 from the field and 12-for-15 from the free throw line for her second 30-plus game in a row. Senior Stephanie Gallagher (York, Maine) added 12 points and four assists, while freshman Kayla Stacy (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) provided a spark off of the bench with a career-best 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from three-point range.
Southern Maine hosts Rhode Island College on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.). UMass Dartmouth travels to Eastern Connecticut on Tuesday (5:30 p.m.).
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