Cather powers Bears

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Billy Cather had two doubles and two singles to knock in two runs the University of Maine baseball team held off Mount St. Mary’s of Maryland 9-8 on Monday.

Matt McGraw knocked a two-run triple for the Black Bears, and Brian Hackett an RBI single. Kevin McAvoy doubled and singled twice.

Eric Smith singled to knock in a pair for Mount St. Mary’s.

Maine (2-1) 150 010 101 – 9 16 1

Mount St. Mary’s (3-8) 002 001 203 – 8 17 2

Mendoza, Thorney (7), Clagg (8), Balsinde (9) and Lugbauer; Kapothanasis, Millea (5), Brittenham (7), Haslam (8), Mudgett (8)

Husson 7, John Jay 6

At Odessa, Fla., Danny White had four singles and an RBI and scored two runs as Husson held on to beat John Jay University.

Nick Arthers added an RBI single for the Eagles.

Henry Chao and John Massoni each had two singles and an RBI for John Jay.

John Jay 221 000 100 – 6 7

Husson 000 600 001 – 7 9

Gray, Patterson (8) and McGinley; Colleta, Almanzar (5) and Murphy

Softball

UMaine splits

At Kissimmee, Fla., Black Bears freshman Jessica Ghazali tossed a one-hitter over five innings, striking out three to earn her first career win in a 6-0 victory over La Salle at the Rebel Spring Games. Tennessee State beat Maine 5-3 in the second game.

In the first game, Maine’s Whitney Spangler, Ashley Waters and Tara Vilardo each had two hits. Vilardo hit an RBI double.

In the second game, Jenna Balent (5-3) gave up five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings to pick up the loss. Maggie Soule had two hits and drove in a run, while Vilardo had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Women’s basketball

Purdue 64, Ohio St. 52

INDIANAPOLIS – Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 12 Purdue, led by former University of Maine coach Sharon Versyp, upset No. 5 Ohio State 64-52 Monday night to win the Big Ten tournament championship.

The Buckeyes, who’ve dominated the league the last three seasons – winning the regular season titles and the coach and player of the year awards – looked weary.

While Big Ten player of the year Jessica Davenport finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, the Buckeyes (28-3) always seemed a step behind Purdue and lost for only the second time in 23 games – barely avoiding their lowest-scoring total of the season.