The USM women’s basketball team was back in action on Saturday and did not disappoint. With the help of a 25-point performance from star freshman Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.), the Huskies defeated UMass Dartmouth 63-56 in a hard fought Little East Conference game at Hill Gymnasium.
Along with Leighton’s 25 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field and a tremendous 11-for-12 finish from the charity stripe, the freshman also had five assists, three blocks, and two steals in the contest. Senior co-captain Haley Johnson (West Simsbury, Conn.) turned in a solid performance, providing the Huskies (now 6-4 in the conference and 14-7 overall) with 14 points and a career-high in rebounds with 16. Junior guard Kaylie DeMillo (Jay) contributed eight points in the game.
The Corsairs drop to 3-7 in the LEC and 8-13 overall with the loss.
The sharp-shooting Huskies came out firing in the first half as they shot a tremendous 50 percent from the field (11-22) while earning a 10 point lead at halftime, leading UMass Dartmouth 34-24.
USM continued their aggressive play in the second half as they came out of the locker room going on a 9-3 run to increase their lead to 16, making the score 43-27 three minutes in.
UMass Dartmouth did not back down though, as they went on an 11-0 run that put the Huskies’ backs against the wall, making the score 43-38 with a little over 12 minutes to play. UMass freshman guard Jessica Howlett scored nine out of the Corsair’s 11 points in the run.
A traditional three-point play by Johnson kick-started USM’s momentum, and put the Huskies up eight making the score 46-38 with 11:26 to play in the game.
UMass Dartmouth inched back as they cut the USM lead to three points with six minutes to go when UMass senior guard Madison Malloy followed through on a three-point play and junior guard Lynley DeAmato scooped in a lay-up. That was as close as the Corsairs were going to get though as the Huskies bounced back with six straight points to extend their lead, making the score 56-47. Dartmouth responded with five points in the final 20 seconds of the game, but the Huskies were too much for them in the end and prevailed 63-56.
UMass was lead by Howlett who scored a team-high 13 points. Malloy pitched in 12 points, and DeAmato added eight for the Corsairs.
With the win, the Huskies remain in third place in the LEC behind Eastern and Western Connecticut. USM’s four remaining regular season games happen to be all conference games, which are key games they need to win in order to keep a high seed going into the LEC tournament Feb. 23.
USM travels to Plymouth State University on Tuesday and hosts Rhode Island College Saturday in this week’s LEC action.