1/31/09
Women's basketball suffers first NAC loss
CASTLETON, Vt. -- The University of Maine at Farmington women's basketball team's six-game winning streak was snapped today as Castleton State College downed the Beavers 64-49 in North Atlantic Conference action.
The loss was the Beavers' first in NAC play as they fell to 9-9 overall and 7-1 in the conference. Farmington is scheduled to host Husson University Tuesday with the men's game at 5:30 p.m. and the women's to follow. The Spartans improved to 10-8 (5-2).
Erin Porter (Bangor, ME) scored 13 points for Farmington with Caitlyn Laflin (Farmingdale, ME) adding 10 points. The Beavers struggled from the field (five of 23, 21.7 percent) in the opening half in falling behind 41-24 at intermission. Farmington finished shooting 25.5 percent (13 of 51), including 16.7 percent (two of 12) from long distance, and was hindered by 22 turnovers.
Laura Cary led Castleton with 14 points, while Jess Banks netted her 1,000th career point and finished with 10 and Mary Nienow also pitched in 10 points.
After a 4-4 tie, the Spartans reeled off the game's next 14 points over a five-minute span to give the hosts an 18-4 cushion 7:40 into the first half. Nienow buried a pair of threes in the stretch. The Beavers scored the game's next seven points at the foul line with Brittany York (Strong, ME) and Jillian Ross (Belfast, ME) hitting four and three freebies, respectively, but Castleton expanded the lead to 28-13 as Farmington did not make a field goal for a more than 12-minute span. The lead grew to 19 points before the Spartans took a 41-24 command into halftime.
The Beavers scored the second half's first six points to get within 11 points, but got no closer the rest of the frame as Cary posted 10 of her point total after intermission as the Spartans rolled to the 64-49 victory.
