With the calendar flipping from 2015 to 2016, and with some teams still on winter break, this is a good time to check in on the local college basketball programs midway through their respective seasons.
Bates
There was no downtime for the Bates men, but that can be seen as a positive for the Bobcats. Bates has been streaky all season, winning its first two, then losing a pair before winning a pair. The Bobcats then dropped three straight heading into a New Year’s Eve matchup against nationally-ranked Babson. Bates finished off 2015 in style, knocking off the Beavers for the second year in a row with an 83-79 victory.
The first game of 2016 meant another win, as Shawn Strickland hit a late 3-pointer to lift the Bobcats over Brandeis in the Naismith Classic at Springfield College on Saturday. Bates faced in-state foe Husson in the championship game of the tournament on Sunday night.
The victory over Brandeis put the Bobcats at 6-5 heading into the championship tilt. Senior Mike Boornazian leads Bates with 15.5 points per game, and junior twins Marcus and Malcolm Delpeche are pitching in with 12.7 and 10.4, respectively. Each of the three are averaging more than 6.0 rebounds per game, while Strickland leads the team with 3.5 assists per contest.
The year 2015 wasn’t nearly as kind for the Bates women, and 2016 got off to a similarly rough start. The Bobcats dropped five straight to open the season, then followed that up with their only victories of the season to date before ending 2015 with a loss Saint Joseph’s. Bates opened 2016 with a 82-54 drubbing to rival Bowdoin on Saturday to drop its record to 2-7.
Sophomore forward Nina Davenport is pacing the Bobcats with 13.8 points per game, and junior Allie Coppola is pouring 10.1. Coppola is pulling down a team-high 9.3 rebounds per contest, and Bernadette Connors averages a team-leading 3.1 assists.
The Bates women travel to Lasell on Tuesday to begin a four-game road trip, then return home for the final five games of January.
Maine-Farmington
The UMF men began 2016 on Saturday the same way they spent all of the 2015 portion of their schedule — on the losing end of games. The Beavers are still looking for their first win nine games in, with an 88-58 defeat at Colby the latest in the losing streak.
Senior Nick Hilton, from Wilton and Mt. Blue High School, is leading the team in scoring at a 14.4 points-per-game clip. Fellow Mt. Blue grad Eric Berry of Weld is just a tick under 10 points per game, at 9.9. Hilton is also the team’s leading rebounder.
The Beavers will look to get on track on Tuesday, as they host Thomas in their North Atlantic Conference home opener.
The women’s team at University of Maine-Farmington has found success already this season, winning three of its first eight games to complete 2015. Included in the trio of victories was a rare win over Bates. The 61-53 triumph in November snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Bobcats. The Beavers also secured a pair of conference road victories already.
Senior forward Meghan Smith is pacing the team with 15.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, and averages nearly 10 free-throw attempts per contest. Smith was leading the nation in free throw-attempts earlier in the season, but UMF hasn’t played in nearly a month.
The Beavers will get back to action on Tuesday, when they host Thomas in the first game of a doubleheader with the UMF men. The Beavers are home for seven of their next 10 games.
Central Maine Community College
Both the CMCC men and women are halfway through a month-long break from the middle of December to the middle of January.
The Mustangs’ men are 12-4 and didn’t lose in December, wining all four of their contests by at least eight points. Carrington Miller leads the team in scoring, at 17.5 points per game, while Rob Skinner and Elijah Barbour are both above 13 per contest.
CMCC opens its 2016 schedule with a road trip to Vermont Tech and College of St. Joseph on January 16 and 17.
The Mustang women have been nearly as successful, finishing 2015 at an 11-5 clip. The calendar year ended with a loss to Community College of Rhode Island, but that was preceeded by wins in six of CMCC’s previous seven games.
Freshman Jenny Schlim is leading the young Mustangs with 11.2 points per game, while sophomore Alex Rowe, a South Paris native and former Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School standout, is adding 10.4 points per game. Schlim and Rowe are both averaging more than seven rebounds per contest to pace the team.
The CMCC women will play five of their seven January games on the road.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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