(Game
Box)
PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Freshman Alicia
Doucet (Manchester, N.H./Central) and junior Laura
Kent (Bellingham, Mass.) each posted double-doubles
Saturday afternoon to lead the Plymouth State University women's
basketball team to a 68-59 Little East Conference victory over the
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in the regular season finale
for both schools at Foley Gymnasium.
The Panthers trailed the first 35 minutes of the game and were down
by 13 points with 8:45 to play before staging a furious comeback.
PSU went on a 13-1 run in less than three minutes, taking its first
lead of the day, 46-45, with five minutes remaining. The
Corsairs put together a rally of their own, coming from four points
down with a minute to play and sending the game into overtime with
a dramatic three-point basket at the buzzer at the end of
regulation.
UMD tallied the first four points of overtime in the first 30
seconds, but never scored again. PSU regrouped and scored 13
unanswered points to close out the game. The Panthers were 9-of-9
from the free throw line in the extra session. The Corsairs,
who dressed only six players, played the final two minutes of
overtime with just four players after their second player fouled
out.
PSU completes the regular season with a 16-9 overall record, its
best mark since 2002-03, while finishing in fifth place in the LEC
with a 6-8 mark. UMD suffered its 11th straight setback and
completes the regular season at 3-22 overall and 0-14 in the LEC.
Doucet scored a game-high 20 points and matched her season-high
with 13 rebounds, posting her third double-double of the season,
while Kent contributed 14 points and a career-high 15 boards for
third double-double of the season. Senior Kayla
Morin (Pascoag, R.I.) also hit double digits for the
Panthers, scoring 17 points to close out her home career.
Senior Vicki Andruszkiewicz (Danvers, Mass.) led the Corsairs with
19 points, converting five three-point baskets. Junior
Tashauna Ashmeade (Hyannis, Mass.) added a double-double with 16
points and 12 rebounds, and senior Madison Malloy (Cranston, R.I.)
and freshman Rayven Tillman (Plymouth, Mass.) chipped in with 10
points apiece.
UMD led the entire first half, jumping out to a 10-3 lead and
maintaining the advantage. The Corsair lead got up to nine
points at halftime when Andruszkiewicz hit a three-pointer at the
buzzer, three of her 13 first-half points.
The Corsairs extended the margin to 13 points (44-31) with 8:45 on
the clock, when PSU started its comeback. The Panthers
appeared to have the game under control with a four-point lead with
just over a minute to play, but Andruskiewicz hit a three-pointer
to cut the margin to one, and after a pair of Panther free throws,
Ashmeade sent the game to overtime with a three-pointer at the
buzzer.
Plymouth State will be the fifth seed in next week's conference
tournament and will travel to fourth-seeded Keene State for
Tuesday's first-round game, while eighth-seeded UMD will pay a
visit to top-seeded and regular season champion Eastern Connecticut
for Tuesday's tournament opener.
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