GORHAM, Maine – Freshman
Dakota Shipley (Bath, Maine/Brunswick) was 7-for-11 from the field for a game-high 17 points to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 69-49 win over the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors in a Little East Conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium.
Shipley added three blocked shots, two steals, two assists and a pair of rebounds. Graduate student
Liz Cote (Conway, N.H./Kennett) added 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from three, while freshman
Lucy Wiles (Glenburn, Maine/Hampden Academy) had eight points and a career-high nine assists. Senior
Maddy York (Nobleboro, Maine/Lincoln Academy) added nine points off of the bench.
Taylor Salato led ECSU with 15 points on 6-for-14 shooting adding four rebounds and two steals. Marissa Nudd added 11 points and five rebounds, while Liv Cassesse tossed in seven points. Kya Mayo paced the Warriors with eight rebounds.
The Records:
Eastern Connecticut (7-13, 6-5 LEC)
Southern Maine (11-9, 7-4 LEC)
SERIES HISTORY: Today's game marked the 101st meeting between the University of Southern Maine Huskies and the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors. Southern Maine leads the overall series 70-31. With today's win, Southern Maine earned the regular-season split with the Warriors. USM and ECSU split their 2023-24 series as well.
How It Happened:
- Leading 10-9 with just over two minutes to go in the first quarter, Southern Maine seized a 20-12 lead outscoring the Warriors 10-3 in the final 3:06 of the first. Wiles scored five of the Huskies 10 points in the run
- The Warriors outscored Southern Maine 6-2 in the first two minutes of the second quarter trimming its deficit to 22-18, but Southern Maine scored seven consecutive to open up a double-digit lead, 29-18, with 5:56 to go until the halftime break. Cote and Shipley each had threes in the run.
- Nudd connected on a traditional three-point play with less than a minute to play in the quarter to make it a 10-point game, 36-26, in favor of the Huskies but graduate Francesca Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) hit a pair of free throws to put USM up 38-26 at the break.
- Salato started the scoring in the second connecting on two free throws, but the Huskies opened the third outpacing the Warriors 13-6 in the first five minutes of the third to lead 51-34. Going 5-for-6 from the field during that stretch, four different players scored for the Huskies led by five points from Shipley and threes from Cote and York. USM continued to roll in the third and led by 19, 58-39, headed into the fourth as sophomore Lita Guslens (Ikškile, Latvia) scored the final basket of the third.
- Shipley scored five unanswered points, on a three and a layup, to start the fourth and the Huskies took their biggest lead of the game 63-39 with 8:23 left in regulation. ECSU scored six unanswered to pull to within 63-45 of the Huskies at the 1:56 mark, but Southern Maine comfortably held for the win outscoring the Warriors 6-4 in the last 1:42 of the game for the 69-49 final.
Inside The Stats:
- Southern Maine shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) from the field, and 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from three-point range. ECSU shot 37 percent (20-for-54) from the field.
- The Warriors outrebounded the Huskies 44-27, and had 16 offensive rebounds. The Warriors scored 15 second-chance points.
- Southern Maine won the turnover battle committing just nine to the Warriors 23. The Huskies turned the Warriors' turnovers into 30 points.
Up Next:
The Huskies travel to UMass Boston on Wednesday, February 5 (5:00 pm) and then return home on Saturday, February 8 (12:00 pm) against WestConn.
-cac-
