Raiders fall to Southern Maine at the UMass-Dartmouth Classic

Story Courtesy of UMass-Dartmouth Sports Information

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA -Southern Maine defeated Rivier, 74-49, in the second round of the 2012 UMass Dartmouth Basketball Classic, presented by the Fairfield Inn & Suites, at the Tripp Athletic Center Saturday.

USM is the Huskies and Rivier is the Raiders

Rivier had an 11-10 lead at 12:34 of the first half after sophomore guard Deanna Purcell (Hudson, NH/Alvirne) made a pair of free throws. It would be short-lived. Southern Maine ripped off a 23-4 run to put them ahead 33-15 with 2:31 left in the opening half before the Raiders would make a run of their own to close the gap to 37-27 at the break.

Southern Maine took command early in the second half surrounding a jumper by Raiders junior guard AJ Guidi (Derry, NH/Pinkerton Academy) with five lay ups, two by senior forward Haley Jordan (Falmouth, ME/Falmouth), two by senior forward Jordan Grant (Concord, NH/Concord) and one by junior guard Erin McNamara (West Newbury, MA/Pentucket Regional) giving the Huskies a comfortable 49-31 advantage.

The Raiders would get as close as 12 points with 10:39 to go on a three pointer by Guidi but the Huskies retalitated with a pair of free throws and a lay up by Jordan to go with a three ball from McNamara sealing the victory.

The Huskies were led by Grant and junior forward Nash Biliew (Portland, ME/Portland) who each had 15 points, Jordan who added 13 points and senior guard Nicole Garland (Portland, ME/Deering) who chipped in with 12 points. The Raiders were led by a game-high 20 points from Guidi and Purcell joined her in double digits with 10 points.

Southern Maine improved to 2-0 with the victory, while Rivier fell to 0-2 with the defeat.

At the conclusion of the game, the Fairfield Inn & Suites All Tournament team and MVP was awarded. UMass Dartmouth junior forward Erika Bornemann (Canton, MA/Canton) was named to the team along with Southern Maine's Haley Jordan and Jordan Grant, Rivier's AJ Guidi and Maine-Farmington's Holly Oliver. Corsair senior forward Colleen Moriarty (Canton, MA/Canton) was selected the tournaments Most Valuable Player.