USM advances to national final

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The ball in her hands from a rebound, Ashley Marble threw it sky-high as soon as the buzzer sounded. The national title hopes for the University of Southern Maine women’s basketball team are still alive.

The ball bounced off the ceiling and back down – there’s still one game left on the road to an NCAA Division III championship.

Marble’s 22 points and 17 rebounds, plus Megan Myles’ 23 points – including a huge 3-pointer to seal the win – and 10 rebounds, boosted the Huskies of Gorham into the championship game after a 74-65 victory over Hardin-Simmons Friday afternoon at Springfield College’s Blake Arena.

The Huskies, who picked up a school-record 32nd win to go with one loss, will face Hope College of Holland, Mich., today at 3 p.m. Hope beat the University of Scranton 59-56 in Friday’s second semifinal. Hope is now 32-1 and Scranton is 30-2.

“This is what we want,” said Marble, a Topsfield native who was named to the NCAA Div. III Kodak/WBCA All-America team Friday. “I told Coach [Gary Fifield], this is a total different feeling than last year, that’s for sure. And I like to be on this end. I like it.”

USM will be playing in its third national title game. The program has never won the NCAA crown and lost in the semifinals last year. It will be the first meeting between USM and Hope, while USM last played in the national final in 2000 when it lost to Washington University of St. Louis, Mo., 79-33.

Hardin-Simmons (24-6) moves to the consolation game against Scranton at 12:30. The Cowgirls of Abilene, Texas, made a furious comeback after USM had an 18-point lead in the second half, but they weren’t able to maintain the rally.

“As a team we never gave up the whole time, and we made that run there at the end coming back,” said HSU’s Lyssa Denard, who has been the Cowgirls’ leading scorer this year but managed only eight points Friday. “The excitement was there, the momentum, and I thought we did the best that we could.”

That Myles had the shot of the game was no surprise to her teammates. The Auburn native dropped in a 25-footer with 43.2 seconds left in the game and about two seconds remaining on the shot clock. Calais native Katie Frost had passed to Myles on the left side.

“I looked before and I knew I was wide open,” Myles said. “I just knew I had to get a shot off.”

USM went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 28.5 seconds of the game. Katie Sibley, who had 10 of her 13 points in the second half, hit four of those.

The Huskies had a well-rounded scoring effort after Marble and Myles’ combined 45 points. Boothbay’s Sibley had four assists to go with her points, while 6-foot forward Shannon Kynoch had nine points and six rebounds.

“I just kind of think they all felt that they just weren’t going to let it happen and they were going to step up, and a lot of them certainly did,” Fifield said.

Hardin-Simmons scored the first basket of the second half, but the Huskies reeled off a 13-2 run to take a 45-27 lead. The Cowgirls found a spark after a timeout, scoring three straight baskets and whittling the lead down to 10 after a Lindsay Thompson 3-pointer. Later in the half Thompson hit another 3-pointer from about 23 feet, Sonya West (13 points, 11 rebounds) converted a USM turnover, and Dennard had a putback of her own miss to cut the game to three.

The Huskies were able to pump it back to five points, but a Rachel Cisneroz 3-pointer made it a two-point game.

That’s when Sibley and Myles went to work, each one responding after the Cowgirls began to hit their shots. USM was able to maintain a four-point lead until Myles hit her big shot.

“We had to extend out and apply some pressure and she was left open on the perimeter, and she knocked down a great shot,” HSU coach Shanna Briggs said. “She’s a great player and she stepped up. That was a crucial turning point.”

The Huskies knew to look to Myles.

“Oh, I expected it from Meg,” Marble said. “Meg’s always been a clutch player. She’s always hit big shots when we’ve needed it, and once again, Meg Myles hits a 3-pointer.”

The Huskies had a 32-23 lead at halftime with a huge rebounding advantage that didn’t allow the Cowgirls to get second shots. USM had a 48-33 edge on the boards overall.

HUSKIES 74, COWGIRLS 65

Hardin-Simmons (24-6) So. Maine (32-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hodges 2 5 2 2 6 Marble 8 14 22

West 4 13 5 6 13 Myles 8 15 5 23

Henley 5 12 1 2 11 Cowing 2 6 5

Cisneroz 3 8 1 2 10 Sibley 4 11 13

Dennard 3 13 2 2 8 Frost 1 5 2

Thompson 4 6 0 0 10 Welch 0 1 0

Walker 1 2 1 3 3 Sylvain 0 2 0

Singletary 1 1 0 0 3 Kynoch 4 5 9

Jones 0 3 1 2 1 Santa Fe 0 0

Totals 23 63 13 19 65 Totals 27 63 15 19 74

Hardin-Simmons 23 65

Southern Maine 32 74

3-pt. goals – Hardin-Simmons (6-16): Cisneroz 3-6, Thompson 2-2, Singletary 1-1, Henley 0-1, Walker 0-1, Jones 0-1, Dennard 0-4; Southern Maine (5-22): Myles 2-4, Kynoch 1-2, Marble 1-3, Cowing 1-4, Sylvain 0-1, Sibley 0-2, Frost 0-3, Santa Fe 0-3

Attendance: