PETERSBURG, Va. — Central Maine Community College pulled away from Penn State Schuylkill in the fourth quarter and wrapped up its season with a 65-59 victory in a consolation game at the USCAA Division 2 women’s basketball tournament Wednesday.
The Mustangs, who finish the season 27-3, battled back from a double-digit first-half deficit and caught up to the Lions (25-10) in the third. The teams then fought back and forth the remainder of the period, swapping the lead five times.
CMCC took a 49-45 advantage into the fourth, but an early 3-pointer by Schuylkill’s Allison Crockett made it 49-48 with 9:33 left in the game.
Jade Smedberg made a free throw with 8:20 left that started a 12-2 run by the Mustangs. Emily Strachan added a layup, then a steal by Smedberg led to a layup by Kali Thompson, who scored five points and grabbed four rebounds in the fourth.
Penn State Schuylkill’s Nadia King made a layup, but a free throw by Luna Love restarted CMCC’s momentum, and a jumper by Smedberg pushed CMCC’s lead to 57-50 with 5:45 left.
Thompson scored a second-chance basket and Love finished the run with a pair of foul shots that made it 61-50 with 4:35 remaining in the game.
While the offense was scoring those 12 points, the CMCC defense held Penn State Schuylkill to two points over a stretch of five minutes.
The Mustangs forced 10 turnovers in the fourth. Smedberg, a former Oxford Hills standout, had three steals in the fourth, and Strachan, a Lewiston graduate, had two.
Strachan led CMCC’s balanced offense with 13 points, to go along with a team-high five steals. Luna Love made two 3-pointers and scored nine points. Destiny Mora Lopez also had nine, while Rayna Duzant scored eight points and made four steals.
Smedberg finished with five points and four steals, Thompson contributed five points and a team-best seven rebounds. Three former area standouts finished with four points for the Mustangs: Mountain Valley’s Kierstyn Lyons, Lewiston’s Myah Nicolas and Edward Little’s Chantel Ouellette. Ouellette also grabbed five rebounds.
CMCC went to the line much more than in Tuesday’s loss to Penn State Beaver, attempting 37 Wednesday and making 28.
Penn State Schuylkill led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but CMCC scored the last eight points of the second quarter to go into halftime only down by three points, 33-30.
The Lions had three players score in double figures. King scored a game-high 15, Kassidy Ingram put up 12 and Crockett made three 3s and finished with 11 points.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
MORE HONORS FOR MOSS: UMaine-Farmington senior Terion Moss added more accolades to his offseason when he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 1 First Team and chosen to participate in the Reese’s Division III All-Star Game this weekend.
This is the second consecutive All-District First Team honor for Moss, who last year became the first player in program history to earn NABC All-District recognition.
Earlier this offseason, Moss received player of the year awards from the North Atlantic Conference and the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches and Writers Association, both for the second year in a row.
The Reese’s Division III All-Star Game will be played Saturday in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The two 10-player rosters consist of the top seniors from throughout the country.
Moss averaged 24 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game this past season. His 623 points are the second-most in the UMF men’s program’s history. The 1,655 points he scored in his three seasons at UMF (he played his freshman season at the University of Maine in Orono) rank third in program history.
COLLEGE SWIMMING
BERRY 2ND AT NCAA: Augusta’s Nathan Berry swam to the highest finish in any event by a Bates College men’s team swimmer at the NCAA Division III championships.
The Cony High School graduate placed second in the 50-yard freestyle Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Berry’s time was 19.77 seconds. The senior entered the race as the sixth seed. He’s also seeded second in the 100 free.
Two Bates women have finished second at the NCAA championships: Current head coach and Edward Little High School graduate Vanessa Williamson, who took second in the 200 butterfly two years in a row (2003 and 2004), and Sara Daher, who was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley in 2016.
Berry also helped the Bobcats’ 200 medley relay finish sixth (1:27.87), along with Marich Somridhivej, Edmond Giang and Maximillian Cory.
The women’s 200 medley relay (Sophie Cassily, Abigail Gibbons, Grace Wenger and Marjorie McLeod) placed 13th with a time of 1:44.13.
Other Bates results from Wednesday: Mark Gregory, 15th in men’s 500 freestyle, Wenger 25th in women’s 500 free and Gibbons 47th in women’s 50 free.
The top 16 finishers in each event earn All-American honors.
The Division III championships continue through Saturday.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
CMCC DROPS PAIR: First-inning runs allowed proved costly for the Mustangs, who lost 15-2 to Bergen Community College and 13-9 to Brookdale CC in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Mustangs mostly kept pace with the Bulldogs in hits, getting edged out 6-5, but five errors hurt Central Maine’s cause. Gray-New Gloucester grad Zach Mann collected two hits for the Mustangs.
After allowing two first-inning runs in the first game, the Brookdale Jersey Blues sent across six in the top of the first against Central Maine in the second game. The Mustangs did respond with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Evan Eldridge had three hits for CMCC, while Christopher Letendre and Garren Post each drove in three runs.
ONEONTA SWEEPS UMF: The Beavers (2-6) dropped a pair of games in Auburndale, Florida.
The Red Dragons (5-3) won the first game 9-2 and the second 10-6.
Oxford Hills graduate Hunter LaBossiere led UMaine-Farmington’s offense with two hits in the opener, while Ryan Sargent drove in both runs.
The Beavers took a 6-0 lead in the second game. Will Cauchon emptied the bases with a three-run single and later scored on Danny Terhune’s bases-loaded walk to put the Beavers up 4-0 in the first.
A two-run double by Sam Parsell scored Sargent and LaBossiere to push the lead to 6-0 in the second.
But Oneonta stormed back with two in the third and four in the fourth, then overtook the Beavers with three in the fifth and one in the sixth.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
BATES 14, PLYMOUTH STATE 7: Caroline Taggart finished with four goals and three assists to lead the Bobcats (4-3) over the Panthers (3-2) in Lewiston.
Sophie Scola tallied three goals for Bates. Cammie Lavoie stopped six shots in net.
Julia Donovan led Plymouth State with three goals and an assist. Margie Black racked up 12 saves in goal.
CLARK 24, UMF 7: Elizabeth Liakos paced the Cougars (2-2) with five goals in their win over the Beavers (0-2) in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Kiley Simmons added four goals and three assists, and Sophie Didier had four goals and one assist for Clark.
UMaine-Farmington’s Kaya Backman tied for the game-high with five goals, while Emma Bourget and Ruby McMinis scored one apiece.
SOFTBALL
PLATTSBURGH 16, UMF 3: An 11-run fourth propelled the Cardinals (4-1) past the Beavers (0-5) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Plattsburgh was leading 3-2 before blowing the game open in the fourth.
Megan Wilson had two hits and two RBIs for UMaine-Farmington, and Maddie Pike doubled, singled, drove in a run and scored a run.
KEENE ST. 13, UMF 3: The Owls (3-3) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one inning and rolled to a five-inning victory over the Beavers (0-6) in Myrtle Beach.
Maddie Pike went 3 for 3 with two RBIs for UMaine-Farmington, while Mackenzie Dyer added two hits and Katie Hammer scored a pair of runs.
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