Southern Maine slips past Endicott in ECAC Semifinals
March 5, 2011
Boxscore
McNamara’s trey with under two minutes remaining gave USM a 53-51 cushion and thwarted a strong comeback by the Gulls, who had taken a 51-50 advantage on a jumper by senior Ashley Vitale (Wilmington, Mass.) after trailing by 13 (49-36) with 10:18 on the clock.
Following McNamara’s three-pointer, Endicott came up empty on its next two trips up the court, including three looks at the basket with back-to-back offensive rebounds inside a minute.
The Gulls had a chance to tie with 16 ticks left but would fail to convert the front end of a one-and-one, setting up Cochran’s game-clinching foul shots.
First-year Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) pulled the Gulls within one (55-54) on a trifecta with 1.6 seconds remaining.
Southern Maine was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Endicott failed to get off a desperation shot before the final buzzer.
Cochran had 14 points and six rebounds to pace USM, which led 34-24 at the break. McNamara finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers, and senior Becky Dixon (Gardiner, Maine) came off the bench to net nine of her 10 points in the first half.
Wright nailed four shots from beyond the arc and finished with a team-high 14 points for the Gulls. Vitale was a force inside, registering a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards to go with a game-high five assists. White contributed 10 points and nine caroms.
Release courtesy of University of New England Sports Information.
Biddeford, Maine – First-year guard Erin McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) buried a key three-pointer with 1:46 remaining, and junior forward Courtney Cochran (Waite, Maine) provided a pair of much-needed free throws in the closing seconds to give No. 2 University of Southern Maine a 55-54 win over No. 3 Endicott College in a semifinal round game of the ECAC Division III New England Women’s Basketball Championship Saturday evening on the campus of the University of New England.
The Huskies (18-10) advance to Sunday’s title game and will face top-seeded University of New England, a 64-58 winner over No. 4 WPI in the day’s other semifinal tilt. The championship game at UNE is slated to tip-off at 2 p.m. Endicott concludes its season at 17-10.
McNamara’s trey with under two minutes remaining gave USM a 53-51 cushion and thwarted a strong comeback by the Gulls, who had taken a 51-50 advantage on a jumper by senior Ashley Vitale (Wilmington, Mass.) after trailing by 13 (49-36) with 10:18 on the clock.
Following McNamara’s three-pointer, Endicott came up empty on its next two trips up the court, including three looks at the basket with back-to-back offensive rebounds inside a minute.
The Gulls had a chance to tie with 16 ticks left but would fail to convert the front end of a one-and-one, setting up Cochran’s game-clinching foul shots.
First-year Jennifer White (Lisbon, N.H.) pulled the Gulls within one (55-54) on a trifecta with 1.6 seconds remaining.
Southern Maine was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Endicott failed to get off a desperation shot before the final buzzer.
Cochran had 14 points and six rebounds to pace USM, which led 34-24 at the break. McNamara finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers, and senior Becky Dixon (Gardiner, Maine) came off the bench to net nine of her 10 points in the first half.
Wright nailed four shots from beyond the arc and finished with a team-high 14 points for the Gulls. Vitale was a force inside, registering a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards to go with a game-high five assists. White contributed 10 points and nine caroms.
Release courtesy of University of New England Sports Information.