BANGOR – The University of Maine-Farmington women’s basketball team put an exclamation point on its first Maine Athletic Conference title, earning the institution’s first trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament in Angola, Ind., next week.

Twin towers Caryn Lasante and Tammie Paradie simply controlled the paint against the smaller St. Joseph’s College Monks, combining for 41 points and 22 rebounds en route to an impressive 88-44 victory in their Maine Athletic Conference championship game at the Bangor Auditorium Monday.

The 6-foot-2 Lasante, a junior from Lyman who played at Massabesic High School in Waterboro, scored a game-high 21 points and added nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Mechanic Falls’ Paradie, a 6-1 senior who played at Auburn’s Edward Little High School, had 20 points, a game-high 13 rebounds and three steals.

“This was, by far, our best game of the season,” said senior guard Amanda Buckner of Cutler and East Machias’ Washington Academy, who contributed eight points and four assists. “We all played to our potential. It was incredible. Our post people did a great job holding their position, keeping defenders off them and making themselves wide so we could get the ball into them. That was definitely the key.”

“We’ve been working on that a lot in practice, on getting big and keeping our space. Tonight it worked,” said Lasante, who went nine-for-nine from the floor. “We got lower, got our arms out and got as big as possible.”

“They’re huge. They had such an advantage in the post. We just couldn’t match up with them,” said St. Joseph’s sophomore center Alison Cropley of Pittsfield.

“They have four good post players, they pass the ball very well and it’s kind of hard to stop them,” said St. Joseph’s sophomore forward Shannon Field of Old Town.

Paradie gave credit to the guards, saying, “They did a real good job getting the ball into us.”

The 20-4 Beavers also did an outstanding job defensively, holding the Monks to a dismal 4-for-31 shooting performance (13 percent) in the first half with their man-to-man en route to building a 40-16 lead at the intermission.

“Coach [Len MacPhee] told us what each of their players did and we got an incredible defensive performance from everybody,” said Buckner.

“We knew everything started with good defense. We were ready to make things happen on that end and hoped things would happen on the offensive end,” said senior guard Amber Howard of Searsport, who had seven points and five assists.

UMF scored the game’s first 12 points, including six by Lasante, as St. Joseph’s missed its first 14 shots.

Margo Bailey had 10 points for the winners and Kristy Parent contributed five assists and six points. UMF outrebounded St. Joe’s 55-40.

Field had a team-high 12 points and grabbed five rebounds for 14-13 St. Joseph’s. Mandy Reed had 11 points and a team-high seven boards. Cropley had six rebounds.

Beavers 88, Monks 44

St. Joseph’s women (14-13) UM-Farmington (20-4)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Chavarie 0 5 0 0 0 Wyman 0 0 2 2 2

Gibson 3 10 2 3 8 Buckner 3 8 2 2 8

Pelletier 2 6 0 0 5 Howard 2 7 3 3 7

Forand 0 3 1 2 1 Fletcher 2 2 1 1 5

Sandora 1 2 0 0 2 Parent 2 8 2 2 6

Simonds 0 0 0 0 0 Downes 3 6 0 0 6

Sparrow 1 6 0 0 2 Paradie 8 15 4 7 20

Lemire 0 0 0 0 0 Atwood 1 3 0 0 2

Field 4 9 2 2 12 Moir 0 2 1 2 1

Pridham 0 4 1 2 1 Bailey 5 10 0 0 10

Reed 4 9 3 8 11 Lasante 9 9 3 4 21

Cropley 1 9 0 0 2

Totals 16 63 9 17 44 Totals 35 70 18 23 88

St. Joseph’s 16 44

UM-Farmington 40 88

3-pt. goals: St. Joseph’s (3-13): Field 2-3, Pelletier 1-2, Gibson 0-1, Forand 0-1, Pridham 0-2, Chavarie 0-4; UM-Farmington (0-6): Parent 0-2, Howard 0-4