On Friday night, the women’s basketball team walked off the court for the last time this season. It was the first-round game of the NCAA national tournament-the Huskies received an at-large bid to the tournament after losing the conference championship game in overtime to Eastern Connecticut-and though they played one of their best games of the season and led most of the game, the Huskies couldn’t hang on in the end.
Toppled in the final six minutes of the game, they took their fourth and final loss of a spectacular season to the Brandeis Pilgrims, 71-74.
“The first half was neck and neck,” said junior forward Stacey Kent (Northwood, NH), who led the team in scoring with 22 points in the game and 422 for the season.
“Then with six minutes to go, we just ran out of gas.”
The Huskies had a narrow lead when they entered half-time, 38-37, after shooting 53.8 percent from the field and nailing seven of 12 from the three-point range.
In the second half, “we were just clicking,” said Kent. “We were connecting; they were missing shots.”
They at one point took a 15-point lead on a three-point shot from senior Dawn Ross (Gray), and after exchanging several baskets led 65-41 with just under seven minutes to play.
Kent took the bench and took her time letting coach Gary Fifield that she was ready to get back on the floor.
“I was relaxed,” she said. “We were up 15 points, I wasn’t in a hurry to get back in the game.”
And then the Judges, led by senior Jaime Capra, began their comeback. Brandeis scored 12 unanswered points, including seven by Capra, which brought them within two points of the Huskies with a little more than three minutes on the clock.
Sophomore Becky Dixon (Pittston) finally sank a pair of free throws to give USM a little bit of momentum and a four-point lead, but Capra attacked once again, scoring five consecutive points to lead 68-67 with two minutes left in regulation.
After trading bouts of shots, two free-throws from Kent pulled the team within one point with just 19 seconds left, but they couldn’t eke out the win.
“It was bittersweet,” said Kent the next day. “We saw how well we could play as a team. I don’t think anyone has any regrets or feels like they didn’t leave it all on the floor.”
The team spent the night at a hotel near the court at Kean University in New Jersey, and took to the bus on Saturday morning. Though riding home after a big loss can be one of the roughest times a team faces, Kent said everyone was getting along. Tired, but getting along.
“Everyone has gotten their tears out,” she said, but the long drive was shadowed by the knowledge that, for the 25-4 Huskies, this was their last bus-ride home.