Women's basketball picks up first win

FARMINGTON - The University of Maine Fort Kent women's basketball team picked up their first win of the year 49-48 over host University of Maine Farmington at the Dunkin' Donuts Tip-Off Classic in Farmington, Maine.

The win was also the first career victory for first year UMFK Head Coach Bradley Holabird.

On Saturday afternoon, Ericka Christensen of Warren, who officials had named to the All-Tournament team, recorded a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Lady Bengals pulled out their first victory of the season.

Taylor Boucher of Fort Kent scored to put the Bengals up 49-48 with 2:36 to play, however Farmington had a number of chances as UMFK missed both front ends of 1-and-1s down the stretch.

UMF misfired five times from the field and turned the ball over twice as the Lady Bengals left Farmington with their first win.

Boucher scored 13 points for UMFK and Maliesha Caesar of Cayon, St. Kitts provided 10 points off the bench.  UMFK outscored the Beavers 17-5 over the first 10:13 of the game and grew their lead to 15 points before settling for a 30-24 advantage at the half.

UMFK (1-3) returns to action December 2 and 3 when they will play at the Ed Hockenbury Classic hosted by Norwich University in Norwich, Vermont.

The day before, USM had a strong first half which helped UMFK's southern rival defeat the bengals.

The University of Southern Maine raced out to a 49-21 halftime lead and cruised past the UMFK women 83-48 in game one at the UMF Tip-Off Tournament Friday night.

Bengals' sophomore guard Jenn Colpitts of Scarborough led all scorers with 20 points with most of her offense coming from the free throw line where she was 13-of-18.  Freshman forward Ericka Christensen of Warren and sophomore forward Taylor Boucher of Fort Kent each added eight points for UMFK.

USM (1-1) was ahead by 12, 21-9 with 12:15 to play in the first half, Southern Maine used a 17-1 run over the next 3:37 to grab an overwhelming 39-10 lead with 7:38 remaining in the half.  The Bengals closed the gap in the final two minutes of the half to trail 49-21 at the half.  However, USM opened the second half strong and cruised to their first victory of the year.