GORHAM, MAINE. 12/12/09 - The Keene State women's basketball
team dropped its first Little East Conference game of the season on
Saturday, falling to the University of Southern Maine 61-46 at Hill
Gymnasium in Gorham, Maine.
Senior guard Nicole Paradis (Skowhegan, Maine) scored a
season-high 16 points to lead three-players in double figures to
lead the Huskies.
The loss drops Keene State to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the
LEC. With the win, Southern Maine improves to 6-3 on the
season and evens its Little East Conference record at 1-1.
Senior forward Nicole Simmler (Oxford, Mass.)
had a game-high 18 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the
field. Senior guard Kristen Degou
(Newburyport,Mass.) added 11 points while sophomore guard
Nicole Cullinane (Rindge, N.H./Goffstown) chipped
in with 10 points off of the bench.
Paradis was 6-for-11 from the floor including a solid 4-for-6
from three-point range to lead USM. Junior guard Kaylie
DeMillo (Jay, Maine) added 13 points and a game-high five assists
and sophomore guard Renee Nicholas (Sebago, Maine/Lake Region)
tossed in 10 points, grabbed four rebounds, and had two assists and
three steals. Freshman forward Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) and
senior forward Haley Johnson (West Simsbury, Conn. /Simsbury) each
scored nine points. Johnson had a game-high eight rebounds,
while Leighton grabbed six. Leighton added four assists and
two blocked shots, while Johnson had three blocked shots.
Trailing by a point, 27-26, Southern Maine outscored the Owls
35-19 in the second half. The Huskies held Keene State to
just five second half field goals (5-for-24), while shooting an
outstanding 70.2 percent (12-for-17) from the field. DeMillo
and Nicholas each scored eight points in the second half, while
Leighton netted seven of her nine.
The Huskies were able to take control of the game early in the
second stanza, opening the half with an 11-0 run. Four
different players scored in the run for the Huskies, led by four
points from DeMillo for a 37-27 USM lead with 13:00 on the
clock.
KSC cut the Husky lead to eight points, 40-32, with 10:24 to
play on a three-pointer from Simmler, but USM outscored the Owls
14-4 over the next six minutes to open up its largest lead of the
game, 54-36, with 3:29 to play.
Johnson scored five of the Huskies 14 points in the run.
Keene State was able to cut the lead to 13 on a three from
Cullinane with 46 seconds remaining but it was too little to
late. Leighton netted the Huskies final basket of the game
with 10 seconds to play for the 61-46 final.
Southern Maine finished the game shooting 50.0 percent
(21-for-42) from the field and 50.0 percent from three-point range
(8-for-16). The Huskies were just 11-for-20 from the free
throw line (55.0 percent). Keene State shot 29.8 percent from
the field (14-for-47) and 36.8 percent (7-for-19) from three-point
range.
Keene State faces Goucher College at Southwestern College for
the Grand Canyon Classic on Tuesday, December 29 (tba).
(Courtesy USM Sports Information)
