Southern Maine edges PSU Women's Basketball

The University of Southern Maine edged the PSU Women's Basketball team by a score of 67-60 on Tuesday, February 9 in front of a packed house at Foley Gymnasium.

PSU had a woeful shooting night from the field, only making 28% of their shots while USM knocked down 37% of their shots. PSU was led by sophomore forward Alicia Doucet who had a team high 19 points and 11 rebounds. PSU senior forward and captain Laura Kent scored 15 points while her teammate and junior Amanda Kania chipped in with 11 points.

USM was led by guard Kaylie DeMillo who notched a game high 23 points including an amazing seven three-point shots on the night while adding four rebounds. USM forward Curran Leighton added 19 points and guard Haley Jordan scored 11 points.

The loss was PSU's fifth loss in their last six games; and have fallen to 14-8 on the season with a Little East Conference record of 4-7. PSU started the year 8-0 but have a record of 6-8 since December 12. With the win, USM improved to 15-7 on the season with an LEC record of 7-4.

The two teams went into the half notched at 28 apiece, but USM started the second half on a 16-6 run in the first six minutes. PSU would chip away at the defecit and would pull to within one point in the final minute of the game before USM would go on to knock down some clutch free throws.After the game, PSU head coach Lauren Lavigne felt that PSU had outplayed USM, "I really believe that we outplayed them tonight. We had a terrible shooting percentage from the field but we hung tough and stayed in the game," said Lavigne, "Free throws were the biggest difference. USM knocked down a lot of key free throws late in the game which allowed them to hold on to their lead."

Although PSU guard and senior captain Kalie Judd had a rough night shooting (1-11), coach Lavigne was pleased with her consistent effort night in and night out, "Kalie does not get enough credit. She plays hard and brings it every game." Judd did add four rebounds, five assists and two steals to her statline despite the rough scoring night.

PSU will look to end their slump when they host UMass Boston in their 2009-2010 home finale on Saturday, February 13 at 2:30pm at Foley Gymnasium. A large crowd is expected as it will be senior day for PSU as they look to better their position heading into the stretch run of the season. USM will look to continue their winning ways when they go up against Rhode Island College.