BOSTON –  Freshman Vanessa Vaughan (Hantsport, Nova Scotia/King's Edge Hill) scored a game-high 20 points and sophomore Maria Degifico (South Portland, Maine) added 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 53-38 win over the UMass Boston Beacons in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Wednesday night at the Clark Athletic Center.
 
The win keeps Southern Maine in contention for a spot in the 2023 Little East Conference tournament.  The Huskies, UMass Boston and Western Connecticut are all tied for fifth.  The Huskies were picked to finish seventh in the LEC preseason poll. The top six from the regular season earn a spot in the post-season tournament.
 
 
The Records:
Southern Maine (7-17, 5-10 Little East)
UMass Boston (12-13, 5-10 Little East)
 
Series History:
Meeting for the 83rd time in series history, Southern Maine leads the overall series 21-11.  UMass Boston defeated the Huskies 68-59 earlier this season on January 18.  The Huskies last defeated UMass Boston on February 16, 2022 by the score of 66-62.
 
How It Happened:

• In a low scoring start to the first, Southern Maine trailed UMB 4-2 after a jumper from Meg Dixon at the 5:30 mark.  Junior Ashlee Aceto (South Portland, Maine) scored the equalizer on an assist from junior Amy Fleming (Berwick, Maine/Noble) and the Huskies outscored the Beacons 10-2 to close out the frame.  Vaughan scored four points in the run.
• Vaughan extended the Huskies' run to 12-2 with the first bucket of the second quarter, before the Beacons responded with a 7-2 flurry to make it a three-point game, 16-13, with 6:51 left in the half.  The Beacons were 3-for-3 in that stretch led by four points from Dixon and a three from Sunny Green.
• The Huskies remained ahead by three, 20-17, at the 1:31 mark as UMB's Dixon hit for another score.  However, Vaughan responded with a three off of a Degifico assist for a 23-17 advantage and junior Franny Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) hit her only basket off the night on a buzzer beater to give USM a 25-17 lead at the half.
• UMB scored first to start the third, but junior Tamrah Gould came up with a steal and a layup and Degifico hit a three from the corner on a driving assist from Aceto to make it a 10-point Husky advantage, 30-20, with 6:54 to go in the quarter.
• Fleming put USM up 34-22 with her sixth point of the second half at the 4:22 mark, but Beacons scored four unanswered to trail by eight, 34-26, after a layup from Dixon and two free throws from Green with 1:54 to play. Vaughan answered for the Huskies, however, and Degifico scored the final bucket of the third on an acrobatic offensive rebound and put-back for a 38-26 lead.
• Degifico converted a feed from Vaughan to start the fourth, and the Huskies remained in front of the Beacons. USM led by 14, 45-31, at the 5:22 mark as Vaughan canned her second three of the game off of a feed from Aceto.
• After Vaughan's three, the Beacons used a 5-0 spurt to pull to within three possessions, 45-36, with 2:26 left in the game, but USM closed the game on an 8-2 run started by a three from Gould for the 53-38 final.

Inside The Stats:

•  Southern Maine scored 23 points off of UMass Boston turnovers.  The Beacons turned the ball over 26 times in the contest.
• Southern Maine was 11-for-12 from the free throw line for a 91.7 percent rate.  Vaughan was 6-for-6 while Fleming was 4-for-4.
• Gould finished with seven points, a team-high seven rebounds and had three steals.  Fleming added eight points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists in a strong second half effort.

 
Up Next:
Southern Maine closes out its regular season on Saturday (1:00 pm) hosting Little East Conference opponent