Wehner hits Milestone, MCLA falls to USM in Holiday Classic 78-75
Gorham, ME- The University of Southern Maine rallied in the final minutes and then had to hold on to defeat the MCLA Trailblazers 78-75 in the second game of the Southern Maine Holiday Classic. MCLA's Jen Wehner collected her 1,000th career rebound in the game as she tallied a double double of 18 points and 11 rebounds in defeat. With her 18 points, Wehner is now just 11 points away from breaking MCLA's all time scoring mark currently held by Pam Barton (1,321 points).
The Huskies will move on to face Babson College in the championship game, while MCLA will challenge the University of Wisconsin-Stout in the consolation game tomorrow at 1pm.
USM (7-3 overall) was led by Haley Jordan, who scored a game high 27 points. Courtney Cochran added 18 points and 16 boards.
Trailblazer Alie Dobrovolc scored a team high 19 points while Lucy Tremblay added 14 for MCLA (5-5 overall).
Wehner entered the contest needing just two rebounds to reach 1,000. After a bit of a slow start, she reached the milestone with 12:52 remaining in the first half collecting a miss from USM's Courtney Cochran. Prior to the milestone, she had already become MCLA's all time leading rebounder. USM scored the final basket of the half to grab a 30-28 lead at intermission.
The second half was a seesaw battle as there were multiple lead changes. Neither team led by more than five points in the second half. Dobrovolc's jumper with 2:49 to play put MCLA ahead 69-65. USM's Cochran answered with four straight free throws tying the game at 69.
Dobrovolc made one of two from the stripe to give MCLA a slim one point edge before USM surged ahead. Jordan began the 6-0 spurt with a pair from the line and a jumper before Nicole Garland's free throw's gave USM a 75-70 lead with just 34 seconds left. MCLA would not quit as Wehner knocked down two free throws of her own to trim the lead to just three.
Garland was clutch again with a pair of free throw's with 22 seconds left before Tremblay buried a deep three from the right wing cutting the margin to 77-75. The Huskies Kim Rivet hit the back end of two shots pushing the lead to three and Katelyn Chenevert's three pointer as time winded down missed the mark.
MCLA sprinted out to a ten point lead on more than one occasion in the opening half as both teams showed signs of the semester layoff. Trailblazer Danielle Scolpino's jumper gave MCLA a 22-12 lead with 8:37 remaining til halftime. MCLA would go cold however, collecting only three baskets the remainder of the half while the hosts rallied.
USM used a 12-2 run to pull even at 26 apiece before scoring the final basket of the half in the closing seconds. The bucket gave the Huskies their only lead of the opening stanza.
Both teams were solid from the stripe as MCLA shot 15-18 (83%) while the Huskies were 29-38 (76%). Each team showed some rust as MCLA committed 23 turnovers while USM added 16.