Curran Leighton registers double-double to lift Southern Maine over Eastern Connecticut, 48-46
Huskies will play WestConn for tournament championship at 4:00pm Saturday
contributing writer - Christina Cracolici USM Assistant Director for Athletic Media Relations
DANBURY, CT (Feb. 26) — Freshman forward Curran Leighton (Dover, N.H.) notched her ninth career double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a hard-fought 48-46 win over the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors in the second semifinal game of the 2010 Little East Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Friday night at Feldman Arena in Danbury, Conn.
Southern Maine, the third seed in the tournament, improves to 20-7 with the win. It is the 30th consecutive season that the Huskies have won at least 20 games. The loss drops Eastern Connecticut, the second seed in the tournament, to 17-9. Eastern Connecticut will await the announcement on Monday from the NCAA for a potential NCAA National Championship tournament berth. Southern Maine will face top-seeded Western Connecticut in the championship game on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).
Leighton scored 12 of her game-high 15 points in the second half as the Huskies overcame a four-point halftime deficit. The 5-9 forward finished the game 5-for-11 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Senior forward Haley Johnson (West Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) and senior guard Nicole Paradis (Skowhegan, Maine) each chipped in with seven and eight points respectively, while Johnson grabbed six rebounds and Paradis nabbed six steals.
Junior forward Amanda Pierlioni (Plainville, Conn.) led the Warriors with 14 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Brittany Whiteley (Windsor Locks, Conn.) tossed in 10 points and junior guard Jessica Moriarity (East Haven, Conn.) played a solid all-around game with seven points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
The first half was a game of runs as Southern Maine raced out to an 11-3 lead in the opening eight minutes of the game. Paradis scored four of her seven points in the opening run, while Leighton netted her lone three of the game. The Warriors stormed back however, outscoring USM 18-4 over the final 11:45 of the half to take a 21-17 lead at the break. Five different Warriors contributed to the scoring, led by five points from freshman guard Samantha Riccio (Avon, Conn.) and four points from Moriarty.
In the second half, the Warriors extended their lead to six and held their lead 25-19 on a lay-up from freshman forward Tanisha Carter (East Hartford, Conn./East Catholic) with 16:41 to play, before the Huskies swung the momentum in their favor with a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the game since the first half, 26-25, with 15:11 to play. Leighton started the run sinking a pair of free throws and junior guard Kaylie DeMillo (Jay, Maine) scored five of her seven points canning a long three-pointer from the wing followed by a driving a jumper.
After the Huskies 7-0 run, both teams traded blows back and forth as the final 15 minutes of the game saw 10 lead changes and eight tie scores. With just over three minutes to play, Leighton gave USM a two-point lead with a turn-around jumper in the paint, before ECSU’s Whiteley knotted the score up for the eighth and final time with a pair of free throws with 2:48 to play.
On the next USM possession, Leighton again game through for the Huskies with another clutch basket in the paint and the Huskies came up with a huge defensive stop as Paradis grabbed her game-high sixth steal of the night. In its ensuing possession, USM extended its lead to four points, 48-44, following a pair of DeMillo free throws, before Pierlioni cut the Warrior deficit to two, 48-46, with a tough lay-up in traffic with 45 seconds to play.
USM turned the ball over on a shot clock violation and the Warriors regained possession with 10 seconds remaining. Southern Maine was able to halt any idea of a last-minute winner by the Warriors, playing defense and allowing Eastern Connecticut only a contested look at the basket as time wound down. As the buzzer sounded, Southern Maine’s Johnson cleared the glass as the Huskies held on for the win.
Newspaper Box Score
Southern Maine vs Eastern Connecticut
SOUTHERN MAINE 48, EASTERN CONNECTICUT 46
SOUTHERN MAINE (20-7)
Curran Leighton 5-11 4-4 15; Haley Johnson 2-7 4-6 8; Nicole Paradis 4-10
0-0 8; Kaylie DeMillo 2-7 1-2 6; Courtney Cochran 2-7 2-4 6; Haley Jordan
1-1 0-0 3; Renee Nicholas 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 17-48 11-16 48.
EASTERN CONNECTICUT (17-9)
Amanda Pierlioni 4-11 5-8 14; Brittany Whiteley 3-8 3-3 10; Jessica Moriarty
2-12 3-6 7; Tanisha Carter 2-9 2-2 6; Samantha Riccio 2-7 0-0 5; Lauren
Kelleher 2-11 0-0 4; Piper Chapman 0-1 0-0 0; Jessica Blodgett 0-0 0-0 0;
Nicole Cote 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-60 13-19 46.
Southern Maine................ 17 31 - 48
Eastern Connecticut........... 21 25 - 46
3-point goals--Southern Maine 3-14 (Haley Jordan 1-1; Kaylie DeMillo 1-5;
Curran Leighton 1-2; Renee Nicholas 0-2; Nicole Paradis 0-4), Eastern
Connecticut 3-15 (Brittany Whiteley 1-3; Samantha Riccio 1-2; Amanda
Pierlioni 1-4; Nicole Cote 0-1; Jessica Moriarty 0-5). Fouled out--Southern
Maine-None, Eastern Connecticut-None. Rebounds--Southern Maine 36 (Curran
Leighton 13), Eastern Connecticut 46 (Jessica Moriarty 11).
Assists--Southern Maine 10 (Renee Nicholas 3; Kaylie DeMillo 3), Eastern
Connecticut 9 (Jessica Moriarty 5). Total fouls--Southern Maine 18, Eastern
Connecticut 16. Technical fouls--Southern Maine-None, Eastern
Connecticut-None. A-200
2010 Little East Conference Women's Basketball Tournament - Semifinals
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