University Of Maine-Fort Kent Edges Women’s Basketball, 60-57

Box Score

CASTINE, Maine – Elms College junior forward Erika Murphy (Torrington, Conn.) scored a game-best 18 points and was named to the Maine Maritime Invitational All-Tournament team but the University of Maine at Fort Kent was able to edge the Blazers, 60-57 in Wednesday afternoon's women's basketball game.

With the loss, Elms moves to 2-8 on the season while Maine-Fort Kent improves to 2-7 overall.

Trailing 60-55 with 23 seconds to play, Murphy was fouled and nailed a pair of free throws to pull Elms to within three at 60-57. After a Blazers foul at the other end of the floor, Murphy secured the rebound off an Amber Garrison (Oroville, Calif.) missed free throw attempt before the Blazers turned the ball over. The Bengals again missed the foul shot, this time with under 10 seconds remaining allowing Elms to regain possession with a chance to tie, but a desperation three-point attempt by Murphy failed as Maine-Fort Kent held on for 60-57 victory.

Maine-Fort Kent controlled play throughout much of the first half, posting a seven-point 13-6 lead 6:56 into the contest on the strength of four points from Jenn Colpitts (Scarborough, Maine), three from Angela Norsworthy (Presque Isle, Maine),  and two each from Quinta Young (Portland, Maine), Garrison, and Maliesha Caesar (Cayon, St. Kitts).

A trey from Maine-Fort Kent's Megan Land (Salinas, Calif.) at the 9:26 mark gave the Bengals a nine-point advantage (18-9) – it's largest lead of the game before Elms began to close the gap.

Seven unanswered points including four from sophomore guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.), two from Murphy and a foul shot from junior forward Maryanne Overmyer (Mattapoisett, Mass.) pulled the Blazers to within two at 18-16 with 6:54 to play in the opening half.

After Maine-Fort Kent pushed the lead back to six (24-18), freshman guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) struck from three-point range to cut the deficit in half with 4:26 left in the frame. From there, the Blazers pulled to within twice more before the Bengals took a 32-28 edge into halftime.

Trailing 37-32 at the 15:33 mark, Donohue swished her second three-pointer of the contest to narrow the gap to 37-35 before a bucket underneath by Normandie knotted the contest at 37-37 for the first time since the 16:49 mark of the first stanza.

A 10-3 run by Maine-Fort Kent gave the Bengals a seven-point edge at the 9:31 mark and led by as many as eight points with 3:15 to play in the contest (56-48).

Elms then scored nine of the next 11 points to pull to within three with 23 seconds left before the rally fell short.

Normandie finished with 13 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field, while junior guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.) netted eight points and dished out four assists in the losing effort.

Donohue also handed out four helpers and totaled six points while freshman forward Nicolette Martin (Colchester, Conn.) added six points. Murphy also hauled in a team-high nine rebounds.

Colpitts led Maine-Fort Kent with a 14-point, four-assist effort, while Norsworthy collected 13 points and swatted three shots.

Land was the third Bengals' player to record double digits with 11 points, while Garrison dished out eight assists to spark the Maine-Fort Kent attack. Caesar contributed eight points and amassed a game-best 12 boards in the win.

Elms returns to New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action when it travels to Bay Path College on Saturday, Jan. 8 for a 1:00 p.m. contest against the Wildcats. The game will be played at Mount Holyoke College.