GORHAM, Maine  -  The UMass Boston Beacons went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 23 seconds of regulation, finishing the game 16-for-18 fro the charity stripe, to preserve a 71-68 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Wednesday night at Fifield Court.

With the win, UMass Boston locks up the number two seed in the Little East Conference, and stands at 21-3 overall and 11-2 in the Little East.  Southern Maine, the three seed in the upcoming LEC Tournament, is now 13-11 overall and 9-4 in conference action.  Southern Maine will host a quarterfinal playoff game on Tuesday (7:00 p.m.) against an opponent to be determined. 

Freshman Kristen Curley (Gorham, Maine) led all scorers with 25 points, adding seven rebounds, four steals, three blocked shots and an assist.  Sophomore Chantel Ells (Turner, Maine/Leavitt) rolled up her sixth double-double of the season matching her career-high with 18 points and snagging 10 rebounds.  Junior Kimberly Howrigan (Fairfield, Vt./Bellows Free Academy) had eight points, while senior Emily Nicholson (Quispamsis, New Brunswick/Kennebecasis) had seven points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Freshman Joie Grassi led UMB with 24 points and eight rebounds.  Senior Lydia Vital and freshman Shania Obsborne each had 12 points, while Osborne had a game-high 14 rebounds, including four offensive boards.  Freshman Megan Dixon added 11 points off of the bench.

Led by six points from Grassi, UMB outscored the Huskies 17-12 in the second quarter to take a 28-25 lead at the half.  The Beacons were ahead by five, 28-23, with 12 seconds left in the quarter before Curley sank a deep jumper on a feed from junior Alexa Srolovitz (Montreal, Quebec/New Hampton Schoo (NH)) as time expired.  The Beacons opened the third on an 11-3 run keyed by a traditional three-point play from Grassi to earn their largest lead of the game 39-28 with 5:53 to go in the quarter. 

The Huskies countered however with a 14-2 run, led by seven points from Curley and four points from freshman Morgan Eliasen (Lewiston, Maine), and tied the game up at 42 with 1:56 to play in the third.  Both teams exchanged buckets in the final minutes, but Vital converted a layup on a long assist from Osborne off of a USM miss to put the Beacons up by three 50-47 heading into the fourth.

The Beacons remained in front of the Huskies for the entire fourth quarter but never led by more than two possessions in the frame.  USM pulled to within a point of the Beacons three times in the final 80 seconds of the contest, but was unable to move ahead.  Curley hit a hanging jumper with 19 seconds to play to make the score 67-66 in favor of the Beacons, but UMB's Dixon and Osborne closed the game at the free throw line going 4-for-4 for the win.   

USM concludes its regular season on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) at Eastern Connecticut.

–cac–