Box Score WATERVILLE, Maine – Junior Megan Pelletier (Winslow, Maine/Messalonskee) scored her 1000th career point as part of a 19-point effort but the University of Southern Maine Huskies dropped a 72-65 decision to the Colby College Mules in a non-conference women's basketball game Tuesday night at Wadsworth Gymnasium.
Pelletier was 7-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from the free throw line becoming the 28th Southern Maine women's basketball player to score 1000 points in her career. With five games remaining in the regular season, Pelletier has 1012 points, 514 rebounds, 107 assists, 91 steals and 98 blocked shots.
Pelletier was one of three Huskies to reach double-digits in scoring. Senior Rebecca Knight (Alfred, Maine/McAuley) was 7-for-11 from the field for 15 points, adding two assists, one steal and a blocked shot. Junior Ella Ramonas (Portland, Maine/Deering) added 13 points and five rebounds on a 6-for-8 effort from the floor.
Colby senior Brooke Chandor (Barrington, Ill.) led all scorers with 25 points, including a red-hot 7-for-11 effort from three-point range. Chandor was lights out in the first half for the Mules, scoring 17 of her 22 points in the opening 20 minutes canning 5-of-6 from three. Overall, Colby was 9-for-16 from the three in the first half grabbing what proved to be a decisive 41-24 lead at the break.
Joining Chandor in double-digit scoring for the Mules was junior Mia Diplock (Vienna, Maine/Cony) with 11 points. Junior Carylanne Wolfington (Hampden, Maine/Hall-Dale) added nine points, while freshmen Haley Driscoll (Bedford, N.H.) and sophomore Caitlyn Nolan (Barrington, Ill.) each had eight points.
Southern Maine dominated the opening five minutes of the contest and grabbed a 10-3; however, led by Chandor and Nolan the Mules caught fire and strung together a 17-4 run over the next five minutes to grab a 20-14 lead. Both Chandor and Nolan had a layup and a three for the Mules in the run.
Southern Maine trimmed the lead to 24-20 with 7:10 remaining in the first half on a three from junior Gretchen Anderson (Kittery Point, Maine/St. Thomas Aquinas), but the Mules hit a barrage of threes as part of another 17-4 run to snag a commanding 41-24 lead at the break. Chandor hit three of the Mules' five three-pointers in the run.
Trailing by 15 points midway through the second half, Southern Maine made it a game with a hard fought rally attempt. After two Colby free throws to make it 55-40 in favor of the Mules with 9:29 left to play, USM rattled off a 12-3 run over the next four and a half minutes to make it a two possession game. Ramonas started the Huskies rally with a bucket in the paint and Knight followed with a strong move for a layup before Pelletier scored eight straight points to make it a 58-52 Colby lead with 5:10 to play.
With the Huskies surging, Diplock drained a pivotal three extending the Colby lead to nine, 61-52, with 3:27 to go. Diplock made it a 10 point advantage with 2:17 to play, before the Huskies' again made it a two possession game on a three from Ramonas and an acrobatic layup from Knight to trail 64-58 with 1:18 to play. Forced to foul, Southern Maine sent the Mules to the line and sophomore MaryKate Caverly (Point Pleasant, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) went a perfect 6-for-6 to preserve the Mule victory.
Southern Maine (9-11) travels to UMass Dartmouth on Saturday (1:00 p.m.). Colby (14-6) travels to Middlebury College on Friday (7:00 p.m.).
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