South Portland, ME – The CMCC Women's Basketball team defeated #3 seed Paul Smith's College 90-65 in the YSCC Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon at SMCC. The Mustangs advance to Sunday's championship game against UMaine-Augusta where they will look to secure their eighth straight conference title.
Central Maine took a 4-3 lead on an Ella Lavigne layup 2:19 into the first quarter and never trailed from then on, but the Bobcats stayed close with the Mustangs in the early stages thanks to 13 first-half points from Jordan Louis. PSC was within one possession late in the quarter before three straight three pointers from Lavigne and Riley Hebler made it 18-7.
Paul Smith's closed to within three points in the opening minute of the second quarter, but that is as close as they would get. Autumn Peterson came off the bench to shoot 3-for-4 from the field and Lavigne, the YSCC Player of the Year, finished the first half with 15 points. CMCC added 25 points total in the quarter to lead 45-29 heading into halftime.
The Bobcats looked to make second-half adjustments and responded well in the third quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 16-13. Central Maine turned to first-year forward Cassie Ririnui for more looks in the paint, and the New Zealand native responded with seven points.
CMCC shook off any second-half doldrums in the fourth quarter by adding 32 points to cruise to the victory. Ava Smith, Marney Rees, and Lavigne each scored six points, and the team shot 12-of-18 overall from the field to thwart any hopes of a late PSC rally.
Lavigne finished with a game-high 23 points, continuing her streak of scoring double figures in every game she's played in this season. Ririnui (11), Hebler (11), and Smith (10) joined her in double digits and 12 different players had at least one field goal, as head coach Andrew Morong continued to use his depth, playing every available player for at least eight minutes. The Mustangs shot 44.0% but leaned on their 49 to 30 rebound advantage to get second-chance possessions. The defense also hassled the Bobcats into 27 turnovers.
The women's team now prepares for a quick turnaround, taking on UMaine-Augusta for the conference championship on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm in South Portland. The Moose handed the Mustangs their only loss of the year in an overtime victory in Auburn on January 29th. That gave UMA and CMCC identical conference records that no tiebreaker could separate, with the Moose claiming the tournament's #1 seed via a coin toss. The game is a rematch of last year's championship showdown that Central Maine won 59-52.
