With the win, Southern Maine improves to 11-11 overall and 7-4 in the Little East Conference.  Plymouth State drops to 6-16 overall and remains winless in the LEC at 0-11.

Junior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) led the Huskies in scoring knocking down 6-of-12 from the field for 15 points, while grabbing seven rebounds and coming up with five steals.  Junior Gretchen Anderson (Kittery Point, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas) scored a season-high 14 points in a solid effort off of the bench, while junior forward Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) added 13 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.  Senior Stephanie Gallagher (York, Maine) had a solid floor game for the Huskies, passing off six assists without a turnover and had a career-high nine rebounds.  She added four points and two blocked shots. Senior Rebecca Knight (Alfred, Maine/McAuley) matched Gallagher for team-high honors in rebounding with nine, adding six points and two assists.

Sophomore DeAsia Lawrence (Middletown, Conn.) paced the Panthers with 14 points.  Senior Kelley Collins (Groveton, N.H.) added eight points and nine rebounds, while senior Tiffany Lewis (Hillsboro, N.H./Hillsboro-Deering) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Thanks to some red-hot shooting from beyond-the-arc, the Panthers led Southern Maine 26-24 at the half.  Lawrence, who scored 24 against the Huskies in their first meeting of the season, scored 12 of her 14 points in the opening half shooting 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range.  As a team, PSU was 5-for-7 from the three in the first half. Lawrence's second three of the half, at the 1:39 mark, had the Panthers ahead 26-19, but USM was able to close the game in the final seconds as Anderson scored five unanswered points on a fantastic feed from Ramonas and a three.

The Huskies grabbed the lead five minutes into the second half on a jumper from Ramonas at the 15:34 mark, but the contest remained close.  With made baskets at a premium for both sides, a layup from Ramonas made it a 31-28 lead with 12:24 to play, but PSU answered right back to tie the score on a three from junior Taylor Perry (Simsbury, Conn.). 

Over the next several minutes, the Huskies never trailed but could not pull away from the Panthers.  A pair of free throws from Collins made it 38-38 secured the sixth tie score of the game, before the Huskies put together a run.  After Collins' free throws, Anderson drained a three to return the lead to USM and they did not relinquish it the rest of the way.  The Huskies remained in front by three, 46-43, with 3:32 to play after another Collins' free throw, before closing out the game on a 7-0 run to secure the win.

Southern Maine travels to Rhode Island College on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) in a LEC contest.  PSU travels to UMass Boston on Saturday (1:00 p.m.).  

-cac-