BANGOR – Jamie Beaudoin’s philosophy is simple: Anyone willing to work hard and play sound defense will earn playing time.

The University of Maine-Farmington coach got that kind of effort Tuesday night. He utilized 10 players for at least 10 minutes each as the Beavers turned in a scrappy defensive performance to post a 65-45 Maine Athletic Conference women’s basketball victory over Husson College at Newman Gym.

UM-Farmington implemented man-to-man and matchup zone defenses and applied occasional full-court pressure while limiting the host Braves to 23 percent shooting (13-for-57).

“If you can play defense for me and work hard, I’ll give you a chance to play,” Beaudoin said. “What we’re trying to do is put some pressure on the ball so the passes don’t become too easy.”

The Beavers improved to 9-6 overall and evened their MAC record at 3-3. Husson slipped to 7-9 and 2-3, respectively.

UMF held Husson scoreless during the final five-plus minutes of the first half which turned into a 9-0 run that gave the Beavers a 32-21 halftime lead.

“You’ve got to give credit to Farmington, they were contesting every shot,” said Husson coach Harold Williams. “They were blocking out and doing what they needed to do to take us out of our game, and they certainly did that.”

The Braves opened the second half with a 9-2 spurt, including Leslie Trott’s conventional three-point play that cut the deficit to 34-30 with 17:16 remaining.

However, a quick timeout seemed to settle down the Beavers. Megan Woodcock of Farmington then hit two 3-pointers to push the advantage to 40-30 with 15:26 left.

Before Husson could re-establish any sort of offensive rhythm, Cheryl Kempton sandwiched 3-pointers, 32 seconds apart, around a foul shot by Husson’s Kelly Dow, extending the lead to 46-32.

UMF shot 41 percent from the 3-point line in the second half, hitting seven of 17 tries to help put the game away. The Beavers were 11-for-31 (35 percent) for the game and went 12-for-12 from the foul line.

“We have a lot of kids who are maybe a little unsure about their abilities,” Beaudoin said. “What we really stressed at halftime is just working the ball around we’ll get open looks and we can also get the ball inside.”

Woodcock finished with three 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 15 points, while Kempton (nine points) also made three. Jocelyn Sawyer contributed 11 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

“We do a lot of shooting in practice, working a lot on penetrate-and-pitch to the 3-point shooters,” Woodcock said. “They started playing a zone on us and we like shooting against zones.”

Kate LaHaye of Belfast, a 5-foot-11 freshman, had two 3s on her way to 12 points. Winslow’s Rachel Bard added six assists.

“Most people on our team can shoot 3-pointers,” LaHaye said. “All of our post players can, so it’s good to have a variety, because most people don’t think that tall people can shoot 3-pointers.”

Megan Hughes of Dexter paced Husson with 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Trott, of Brewer, chipped in with 11 points and seven boards, while Kelly Dow of Sebec Village added 11 points.

UMF outrebounded Husson 46-42.

BEAVERS 65, BRAVES 45

UM-Farmington (9-6) Husson (7-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bard 0 3 0 0 0 McDonald 0 0 0

Sawyer 4 7 2 2 11 Trott 3 16 11

Pepin 1 8 2 2 5 Sexton 1 4 5

Woodcock 5 14 2 2 15 Comeau 0 5 1

Bean 0 1 0 0 0 Hughes 5 13 0 10

Kempton 3 8 0 0 9 Duplisea 0 0

Stanley 1 5 0 0 2 C. Fry 0 0 0

LaHaye 4 4 2 2 12 Dow 3 10 11

Haines 3 10 2 2 9 Poirier 0 0 0

Hunt 0 1 2 2 2 Turner 0 0 0 0

Reitchel 0 1 0 0 0 Boone 1 6 7

Totals 21 62 12 12 65 Totals 13 57 17 30 45

UM-Farmington 32 65

Husson 21 45

3-pt. goals: UMF (11-31): Bard 0-1, Sawyer 1-2, Pepin 1-7, Woodcock 3-10, Kempton 3-6, Stanley 0-1, LaHaye 2-2, Haines 1-2; Husson (2-11): Trott 0-3, Sexton 1-2, Comeau 0-1, Duplisea 0-3, Dow 1-2

Attendance: 125 (est.)