GORHAM, Maine     –  Sophomore Vanessa Vaughan (Hantsport, Nova Scotia) came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points to lead three players in double figures as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Vermont State University Castleton Spartans 69-53 in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Hill Gym. 
 
Southern Maine locked up the no. 3 seed for the 2024 Little East Conference Championship and will host No. 6 Plymouth State in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday (5:30 pm).
 
Vaughan's scored her season's best 20 points going 7-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three.  She added five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Senior Tamrah Gould (Manchester, N.H./Manchester Memorial) added 12 points, while senior Tara Flanders (Windham, Maine) added 11 points.  Senior Amy Fleming (Berwick, Maine/Noble) had five points, a team-high eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
 
Elise Magro led the Spartans with 16 points.  Emily Adams tossed in 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Maggie McKearin had 11 points, and seven rebounds. 
 
The Records:
VTSU-Castleton (10-15, 4-12 Little East)
Southern Maine (12-13, 10-6 Little East)
 
Today's game marked the 13^th meeting between the Huskies and the Spartans.  VTSU-Castleton leads the overall series 7-6, but the Huskies earned the 58-56 win on the road earlier this season (January 13) for the regular season sweep.
 
How It Happened:

• Leading from start to finish, the Huskies scored the first five points of the game on a three from Gould and a layup from Flanders, and raced out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.  Ahead 9-5 with 4:37 in the first, USM closed the quarter on a 10-4 run, including a buzzer beating jumper from Flanders. 
• In a low-scoring second, the Spartans trailed USM 19-13 with 5:06 to go the quarter on an offensive rebound and putback from McKearin.  Scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the second quarter, USM's offense woke up and 8-1 run to lead 27-14 with 3:26 until half.  Junior Luna Love (Zwolle, Netherlands) hit back-to-back threes in the run. VTSU-Castleton scored the three points of the half, and trailed 29-19 at the break.
• Trading scores in the third, Southern Maine led 39-27 with 3:58 to go on a three from senior Liz Cote (Conway, N.H./Kennett), before the Spartans rallied to pull within six, 39-33, with a 6-0 run led by a 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line from McKearin. 
• With its lead cut to two possessions, Southern Maine received five unanswered points from Vaughan to go back up by double-digits 44-33 with 1:44 left in the third, and led 46-35 headed into the fourth.
• USM continued to roll in the fourth, outscoring the Spartans 9-1, in the first 2:22 to lead 55-36 on a bucket in the paint from Vaughan. From there, the Spartans were unable to get closer than 14 points the rest of the way, and USM led by as many as 21 points with less than two minutes to play for the 69-53 final.

 
Inside The Stats:

• Southern Maine shot 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the field for the game, and was a red-hot 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) in the fourth quarter.  VTSU-Castleton shot 32.7 percent (17-for-52) for the game. 
• Led by Vaughan's 20, Southern Maine's bench outscored the Spartans' bench 37-8. Love had nine points on 3-for-5 shooting (3-for-4 from three).

 
 
Up Next:
Southern Maine will host a quarterfinal game for the upcoming 2024 Little East Conference Women's Basketball Championship.  The Huskies are the no. 3 seed and will host no. 6 Plymouth State on Tuesday, February 21, 2024. 
 
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