AUGUSTA — It’s 12 in a row and counting for the University of Maine at Augusta women’s basketball team.
Sparked by their strongest first half of the season, the Moose cruised to an 80-48 win over Paul Smith’s College in a Yankee Small College Conference game at the Augusta Civic Center. It was the first game of a doubleheader between the two schools. Later in the evening, an Anthony Frasier layup with less than a second to play gave the Paul Smith’s men an 89-88 win over UMA.
Oak Hill graduate Desirae Dumais led the UMA women with 19 points, while Monmouth Academy grad Kaeti Butterfield added 18 points. It was the 12th consecutive win for UMA (15-4, 7-2 YSCC), which has not lost since Nov. 22.
“If you can’t talk about it, you can’t get the next one,” UMA women’s head coach Heath Cowan said. “You can’t get the 12th if you can’t get the 11th. We got 12 today. I think they’re ready. I think they’re excited of the challenge of playing down in Portland against Southern Maine (Community College next week). It should be a good game and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Moose jumped out to a 22-13 lead over the Bobcats (7-5, 3-3 YSCC) in the first quarter. But UMA truly separated itself in the second quarter, when the Moose outscored the Bobcats 29-7 in the period to take a 51-20 halftime lead.
“This is the best team we’ve played in a few weeks, and this is the first time we’ve played in (the Civic Center) this semester,” said Butterfield, a senior. “We knew we couldn’t come out sloppy. We just kind of got hyped up. We executed all of our plays. That was the best half of basketball we’ve played.”
University of Maine at Augusta senior forward Mariah Dunbar is introduced before a basketball game Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
With a lead of more than 30 points, UMA had no issues holding the Bobcats at bay in the second half. Freshman guard Alisyn Alley added 13 points for the Moose. Guard Jordan Louis led Paul Smith’s with 20 points. With the win, UMA snapped the Bobcats’ four-game win streak.
“We’ve just got to keep playing every game like it’s the last game we’re going to play, no matter who we’re playing,” Butterfield said. “We’re just trying to stay humble and confident and just keep playing.”
In the men’s game, UMA (8-12, 5-4 YSCC) took an early 42-38 lead on the Bobcats (7-8, 2-5 YSCC), but Paul Smith’s darted out in the second half to take an 11-point lead. UMA chipped away, eventually taking an 88-87 lead with 20 seconds to play. But a putback by Frasier off a rebound with less than a second remaining gave the Bobcats the lead and, eventually, the win.
It’s the third straight loss for the UMA men, which last tasted victory on Jan. 8 in a 104-88 win over Springfield Technical Community College. Trevor Beals led the Moose with a game-high 30 points, while Fraser McDonald added 19 points.
“We were down 11 (points) with six minutes to go, that could have been a whole different (game),” UMA men’s head coach Paul Piscopo said. “We stayed in the game, we turned them over a little bit, we did things at the rim. We were eight seconds and one stop away from winning the ballgame. That’s a good team (in Paul Smith’s)… That was a good effort from us. There were a few points in that ballgame where we could have hung it up and we didn’t. I liked our response.”
Elijah Pratt, Anthony Henson and Sayvion Daniel each scored 17 points for the Bobcats.
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