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Dakota Shipley teammates celebrate MOP
Landon Geis, Athletic Communications Student Employee
54
Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS 21-6
71
Winner Southern Me. SOUTHERN 25-2
Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS
21-6
54
Final
71
Southern Me. SOUTHERN
25-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS 15 16 14 9 54
Southern Me. SOUTHERN 10 21 26 14 71

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Christina Cracolici, Director of Athletic Communications

Southern Maine Claims 2026 Little East Conference Championship; Defeats Rhode Island College 71-54

Dakota Shipley Named LEC Tourney MOP

GORHAM, Maine    –  Sophomore Dakota Shipley (Bath, Maine/Brunswick), the 2026 Little East Conference Tournament Most Outstanding Player, had 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots to lead three players in double-figures as the top-seed and no. 25 nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine Huskies earned a 71-54 win over second-seed Rhode Island College Anchormen to earn the 2026 Little East Conference Championship Sunday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium. 
 
Sophomore Lucy Wiles (Glenburn, Maine/Hampden Academy) led all scorers with 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting, including a 4-for-7 mark from three.  The Huskies' guard added six rebounds, three assists and three steals.  Senior Jaycie Christopher (Skowhegan, Maine) notched her 11th double-double of the season with 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.  Graduate student Liz Cote (Conway, NH/Kennett) had nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, while senior Avah Ingalls (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) filled the stats sheet with six points, seven rebounds and three assists.
 
Abby Wager and Meagan Schuermann each had 15 points to pace the Anchormen.  Wager was 6-for-12 from the field, adding seven rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots.  Schuermann was 5-for-12. Evan Monahan added nine points and six rebounds. 
 
The Records:
2. Rhode Island College (21-6)
1: No. 25 Southern Maine (25-2)
 
Today's game marked the 99th meeting between the University of Southern Maine Huskies and the Rhode Island College Anchormen. Southern Maine leads the overall series 72-27. Southern Maine and Rhode Island College split the 2025-2026 series, and the Huskies have won three of the last four meetings.
 
The Huskies' 2026 LEC Tournament Championship is 21st in program history for Southern Maine. Southern Maine recently earned its 22nd Little East Conference Regular Season Title, finishing the 2025-2016 LEC season with a record of 15-1.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
  • With the game tied at six after a Shipley layup at the 5:31 mark of the opening quarter, Rhode Island College closed out the first on a 9-4 run to lead Southern Maine 15-10 headed into the second.  Wager scored all nine of RIC's points in the run.  The Huskies went 1-for-5 from the field in the final five minutes of the first as Ingalls scored with 45 seconds left to keep it a two-possession game.
  • Monahan extended RIC's lead to seven points, 17-10, with the first bucket of the second quarter, but Southern Maine responded with an 11-0 run to jump ahead of the Anchormen 21-17 with 6:29 remaining in the half.  Wiles scored five of the Huskies' 11 points in the run and finished the half scoring 15 total. 
  • After the 11-0 USM spurt, the two teams went back and forth and Husky freshman Izzy Morelli (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) scored four of her six points of the game over the next few possessions.  Morelli's short jumper on a feed from Ingalls gave USM a 25-21 lead with 4:55 to play, and a three from Wiles at 3:34 moved the margin to 28-21.  However, RIC put together another quarter-closing run, 10-3, to head into the halftime break knotted up at 21.  The Anchormen were 3-for-3 in the final 3:34 of the game and received scoring from four different players, including a game-tying layup from Monahan in the closing seconds.
  • After the halftime break, Southern Maine came out on all cylinders and scored the first seven points of the third to take the lead for good.  Christopher and Shipley combined for all seven of the Huskies' points, including a layup form Christopher to push USM's lead to 38-31 with 8:39 on the clock.
  • RIC outscored USM 12-8 over the next 3:10 of action and trailed by just a bucket, 46-43, on a layup from Maggie McKitchen, but Southern Maine finished the third on an 11-2 run to lead 57-45 headed into the fourth.  Cote scored six of her nine points in the run, while Shipley added five. USM outscored Rhode Island 26-14 in the quarter. 
  • Both teams had a slow start in the fourth, and a layup from Schuermann at the 5:53 mark had RIC down 10, 59-49. But, back-to-back threes from Cote and Wiles started an 8-0 spurt for the Huskies capped by a layup from Wiles pushed the USM advantage to 67-49 with 3:01 to play. From there, Southern Maine kept the Anchormen at bay, leading by as many as 19, 71-52, with 50 seconds to go on two free throws from Shipley before the 71-54 final.
 
Inside The Statistics:
  • Southern Maine finished the game shooting 43.9 percent (25-for-57) and 47.6 percent (10-for-21) from three point range. RIC shot 37.5 percent (21-for-56) and 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from three point range.
  • Both teams scored 24 points in the paint, and were nearly even on points off of turnovers.  Southern Maine scored 16 points off of 12 RIC turnovers, while the Anchormen scored 14 points off of 13 Husky turnovers. 
  • Southern Maine won the rebounding battle 44-28.  The Huskies had 14 offensive boards led by four from Christopher and three from Ingalls. The Huskies had 10 second chance points.
  • Shipley finished the tournament with 34 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists, six blocked shots and four steals over two games to average 17 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals while shooting 11-for-22 from the field and 6-for-10 from three.
 
Up Next:
Earning the Little East Conference's automatic bid, Southern Maine will participate in its 27th NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. The NCAA will announce its 64-team field, host sites and tournament pairings on Monday (2:30 pm) during its live selection show at ncaa.com
-cac-
 
 
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