The Central Maine Community College women’s basketball team wasn’t quite itself in the second quarter of the USCAA national semifinal game against Penn State-Lehigh Valley on Tuesday.
The Mustangs stayed true to themselves in the second half, though, and pulled away from the Nittany Lions for a 65-53 win in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Now, CMCC finds itself in the USCAA national title game for the third straight season.
“We talk all the time about the foundation we have been building since September together,” CMCC coach Andrew Morong said. “When you have a strong foundation, you can meet adversity and fight back from it.
The Mustangs struggled to hit shots in the first half and were held to six points in the second quarter. They entered halftime down nine points, 30-21.
“Probably the worst quarter for CM basketball in my eight years,” Morong said,
He added that Lehigh Valley deserved a lot of credit for CMCC’s rough first half.
The Mustangs didn’t feel like they were in too much trouble, though.
“I don’t think we ever felt that. I certainly didn’t,” Morong said.
CMCC switched out of its press defense and played man-to-man and other defenses to give Lehigh Valley different looks.
“I knew once we could flip the adversity back on them, we would get on one of those rolls, and that’s what happened,” Morong said.
The Mustangs outscored the Nittany Lions by nine points in the third quarter, tying the score at 42-42 heading into the final period.
“At that point we were feeling pretty darn good, and everyone knew that the momentum was our side,” Morong said.
CMCC then outscored Lehigh Valley 23-11 in the fourth to earn a national championship-game matchup with Villa Maria College.
Freshman point guard Rebecca Davila looked for her own shot more and led the Mustangs with a career-high 21 points.
“Becca really stepped up,” Morong said. “She struggled in the first half, forced some shots. We told her at halftime we all saw what she was seeing and she was making the right decision, she just wasn’t executing the decision correctly.
“We said keep doing what you’re doing. Go out there and be Becca. And she did. That was so cool, I was so happy for her.”
Former Edward Little standout Brooke Reynolds finished with 15 points and four rebounds.
Now the second-seeded Mustangs have a title-game showdown with No. 1 Villa Maria, which defeated Johnson & Wales 66-62 in overtime Tuesday.
“They have the two-time USCAA Player of the Year, Shaquana Owens. She’s a senior, averages pretty close to a triple-double,” Morong said of Villa Maria.
The Vikings have won 24 straight games and have an athletic group of players who play an active zone defense.
It’ll be another tough game, but the Mustangs, who won the national title in 2017, will once again stay true to themselves.
“The message isn’t going to change for us: Just do what we’ve been working on since September,” Morong said.
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