The USM women’s basketball team had their hands full on Saturday as Little East Conference leader Western Connecticut came to town, but the Huskies proved they are an elite power and a legitimate contender in the conference as they earned a dominant 74-53 win over the Colonials in front of a packed house at Hill Gymnasium.
The Huskies’ roster featured four players in double figures — including an impressive 21-point, 17-rebound performance by junior forward Courtney Cochran (Waite) — to hand Western their first conference loss of the season and their third loss overall. With the win, the Huskies improve their record to 11-6 overall and 6-1 in the conference, as they now share first place in the LEC with Eastern Connecticut and Western.
The Huskies went to work right off the bat as Cochran was fouled, made the shot and sunk a free throw for a three-point play a minute and a half into the game. After the two teams traded baskets back and forth, Western freshman guard Sciarra Brandt made a jumper at the 16:05 mark to put the Colonials up 7-5. However, that’s the last lead the Colonials would see. Over the next four minutes and 31 seconds the Huskies rattled off a 16-0 run to make the score 21-7 with a little over 11:30 left in the half. The run included a step-back three by senior co-captain Kaylie DeMillo (Jay) — who scored nine points during the run — that forced Western Head Coach Kimberly Rybczyk to call a timeout.
Western attempted a small comeback when junior guard Stephanie Slonski sunk two free-throws to cut the USM lead to 32-23 with 5:12 left, but the Huskies responded by ending the half with a 13-5 run that featured eight points from junior guard Renee Nicholas (Sebago). USM went into halftime with a commanding 45-28 lead.
Western’s star and reigning LEC Player of the Year Melissa Teel got into foul trouble in the first half, which proved to be costly as the Colonials didn’t have an answer for Cochran and senior forward Becky Dixon, who is back with the team after two years of rehabbing multiple knee injuries, on the low block.
“Getting Teel in foul trouble was huge for us in the first half,” USM Head Coach Gary Fifield said. “We were able to take advantage of second opportunities on the offensive end.”
The Colonials came out with more energy in the second half as Teel made a layup and senior guard Karli Spera sunk a three and made a layup for a 7-3 run to cut the USM lead to 13. The Huskies came right back though with a 13-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a 61-37 lead with ten and a half minutes left.
Teel showed a strong effort down the stretch as she scored eight points while in foul trouble, but the Huskies’ offense was too much to catch as they cut and slashed their way through the Western defense with ease. Teel received her fourth and fifth fouls within four minutes of each other and the Colonials had no chance of catching the energetic Huskies as they went up 20 points — 72-52 — on two Cochran foul shots.
Cochran recorded her team leading ninth double-double of the season with her performance. DeMillo, who was honored before the game for scoring her 1,000th career point as a Husky in a game against Plymouth State on Jan. 19, scored 18 and added a team-high five assists. Nicholas scored 13 and had four steals, and freshman Erin McNamara contributed 11 points.
A huge key for USM in the game was their rebounding — both on the offensive and defensive ends. The Huskies out-rebounded the Colonials 47-26 in the game, with 14 offensive rebounds that created second chance opportunities at the basket.
“I was shocked with the way we rebounded,” Fifield said. “The offense we’ve been working with leads to better rebounding because it provides us with better positioning, and we did a great job checking out. I am very pleased with the win.”