WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 52-36 win over the Anna Maria College AmCats in the first day of the Clark University Holiday Tournament Thursday night at Kneller Gymnasium.

With the win, Southern Maine evens its record out to 5-5 and advances to the championship game of the Clark Holiday Tournament and will face the Framingham State Rams tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.  Anna Maria College, now 5-5 with the loss, will face Clark tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. in the consolation game.

Pelletier was 6-for-13 from the field and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Huskies. Senior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) added 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.  Freshman Alexa Srolovitz (Montreal, Quebec/New Hampton) added six points, five rebounds and three assists, while sophomore Kayla Stacy (Auburn, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) added five points and five rebounds off of the bench.

Junior Deja Taitt (Cambia Heights, N.Y./Mary Louis) was the only AmCat in double figures scoring 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting.   Juniors Christina Gauvin (Dudley, Mass./Sheperd Hill) and Nicole Mareiro (Acushnet, Mass./Colony Regional Vocational) each had eight points.  Mareiro led Anna Maria on the boards with seven rebounds. 

The Huskies led by five, 22-17, at the half as Pelletier scored 10 of her 17 points in the first two quarters of action.  USM jumped out to an 11-3 lead on a layup from Pelletier with 5:54 to play in the first quarter before Anna Maria closed the gap to five points, 15-10, with a 7-4 run.  The AmCats continued to surge to start the second quarter with a 7-0 run to grab their first lead of the game, 17-15, on a three from senior Lindsay Bond (Webster, Mass./Bartlett) with 6:57 to play in the half.

The AmCat lead was short-lived however as the Huskies responded with a 7-0 run of their own to lead 22-17 at the break.  Ramonas and Pelletier each scored a basket and sophomore Emily Nicholson canned a three to complete the run.

Anna Maria's Mareiro started the scoring in the second half, hitting a three to pull the AmCats to within a possession of the Huskies, 22-20, but USM responded with a quick 8-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back threes from Stacy and Ramonas for a 30-20 lead with 6:46 left in the third. Anna Maria trimmed the lead to 32-26 in favor of USM with a layup at the 4:08 mark, but USM closed the quarter on a 5-0 run on a traditional three-point play from Ramonas and a bucket from senior Gretchen Anderson (Kittery Point, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) for a 37-26 lead heading into the fourth.

In the final quarter, USM closed the door on the game, outscoring the AmCats 9-4 in the first five minutes bookmarked by a three from Srolovitz to make it a 46-30 lead with 5:06 to play. The AmCats never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way as USM held for the win.

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