The USM women’s basketball team was back at it again in Gorham on Saturday against conference foe Keene State, and they did not to disappoint.
Senior guard Kaylie DeMillo (Jay) helped lift the Huskies once again on yet another step-back three-pointer with two seconds left to give them a 72-69 win in dramatic fashion.
With 25 seconds remaining, Keene State junior Meghan Farrell picked up a loose ball and drove to the hoop for a layup to tie the score at 69-69. On the next possession, USM Head Coach Gary Fifield called a timeout to set something up with 20 seconds left. Coming out of the timeout, USM freshman point guard Erin McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) penetrated the lane and kicked the ball out to DeMillo, who used her signature step-back move to create space and drain her 191st career trey. With two seconds left the Owls threw up a half-court prayer but it missed, and the Huskies slipped away with the victory.
The win is the eighth in a row for the Huskies and brings their conference record to 8-1, and their overall record to 13-6. They share the top spot in the Little East with rival Western Connecticut.
During the first five minutes of the game, the Huskies came out aggressively, earning a commanding 14-6 lead with strong efforts from USM’s leading scorer, junior Courtney Cochran (Waite), sophomore Haley Jordan (Falmouth), and junior Renee Nicholas (Sebago). However, early foul trouble for Cochran and a 7-0 run by the Owls — powered by junior Courtney Cirillo and sophomore Siobhan Carnell — brought them within one point of the Huskies with 13 minutes left in the half.
For the rest of the first half, both teams would trade baskets back and forth, with the score being tied once and the Owls never falling behind the Huskies by more than six points. The Huskies went into half time with a 35-33 lead.
Coming out after the break, Keene went on another 7-0 run to take a 42-38 lead in the first three minutes, but USM would fight back with the dominant post-play of Cochran as she scored eight points in a five minute span. Keene State would stick around though as Cirillo, Farrell, Carnell and junior Sara Laudano paced them.
With ten and half minutes to play, the Huskies gained a short 58-51 lead on two 3-pointers by junior Nicole Garland (Portland), but the Owls would come back again, coming within two of USM four times.
The Huskies’ clock management prevailed in the end though, as the three by DeMillo — who scored 13 — proved to be the dagger. DeMillo’s last-second trey puts her in second all-time in career 3-pointers for USM, and is on pace to break Lori Towle’s record of 196.
Cochran continues her monster year as she recorded her 11th double-double of the season, grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring 18 on 7-14 shooting from the field. Garland scored a career-high 18 points on tremendous 5-7 shooting from behind arc — with three of them coming in the first half — and 6-8 shooting from the field. Jordan finished with eight points, and McNamara had a game-high six assists.
The Huskies will be back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 1 when they will travel to Colby for a non-conference match-up.