Maine teams to play in semi Bowdoin, USM to meet Friday

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The University of Southern Maine Huskies and Bowdoin College Polar Bears advanced to a semifinal showdown after second-round wins in the NCAA Division III Northeast tourney Saturday.

The Huskies defeated Salem State 72-54 in Gorham while the Polar Bears beat Emmanuel College 73-50 in Brunswick.

The instate rivals will now have to travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for the Northeast Region semifinal, which will be hosted by King’s College on Friday.

The winner of the Bowdoin-USM game will play the winner of King’s College vs. Eastern Connecticut State University on Saturday for the right to advance to the Division III finals in Terre Haute, Ind., March 21-22.

Game times for this weekend’s action will be announced Monday.

Southern Maine is making its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2000 when it advanced to the national title game, and its 12th trip since 1987.

Bowdoin edged USM 78-76 in double overtime during a game in December.

Bowdoin has reached the Sweet Sixteen for the third straight season and coach Stefanie Pemper was hoping for the chance to play USM at a Maine site.

“It’s disappointing to not be able to give that game [USM-Bowdoin] to the state of Maine,” Pemper said. “It does seem weird to travel to King’s to play. That being said, we’re obviously excited to be going and it doesn’t diminish our enthusiasm at all.”

USM 72, Salem State 54

At Gorham, Saturday, Tiffany Jones tossed in 22 points to help lead Southern Maine to their 13th straight win.

Meg Cressler added 13 points while Kara Crockett had 12 and Katie Frost chipped in with 11 points and six assists.

Kara Smolinsky led the scoring for Salem State with 23 points while Estrella Kullan had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Salem State (23-6) 54

Almeida 1-2-4, Smolinsky 10-3-23, Ferreira 0-4-4, Grady 3-0-6, Giammalvo 1-1-3, Ashe 1-0-2, Kuilan 4-2-10, Bichols 0-2-2, Reardon, McCarthy

Southern Maine (26-3) 72

Allen 2-1-5, Cressler 4-3-13, Frost 3-4-11, Tong 1-0-2, Jones 6-8-22, Libby 2-0-5, Thibaudeau 1-0-2, Crockett 6-0-12, Carver, Stetler, Judkins, Cowing, Cyr

3-pt. goals: Cressler 2, Jones 2, Libby, Frost

Halftime: Southern Maine 31-22

Bowdoin 73, Emmanuel 50

At Brunswick, Lindsay Bramwell scored 19 points to help Bowdoin defeat Emmanuel.

Lauren Withey contributed with 13 points for the Polar Bears while Erika Nickerson had 12 and Kristi Royer added 11.

Julia Demirer led the Emmanuel effort with 20 points while Evita Esteves had 10 assists to go with her eight points.

Emmanuel (26-4) 50

Pagano 2-0-4, Esteves 4-0-8, McCoy 2-0-4, Demirer 9-2-20, Perras 1-0-2, Wentworth 1-0-3, Parham 0-1-1, Corey 2-0-4, Johnson 1-0-2, Mason 0-2-2, Turco, Ewing, Morris

Bowdoin (25-2) 73

Withey 4-5-13, Trenkle 2-4-8, Royer 4-1-11, Smith 0-2-2, Nickerson 6-0-12, Bramwell 4-11-19, Trotta 1-3-6, Russell 0-2-2, Pourvelis

3-pt. goals: Wentworth; Trotta

Halftime: Bowdoin 32-20