The win puts the Beavers into the championship game Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. against the winner of the USM-Husson College game. The Bears will play in the consolation game at 1:00 p.m. against the loser of Friday night\'s second game.
Laflin connected on 8 of 14 shots from the floor and made 1 of 3 free throws for her 17 points. The 5-foot-10 forward made 7 of 11 shots in the second half. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and made two steals.
UMF senior forward Kari Simpson (Wells, Maine) scored all 16 of her points in the first half to help the Beavers build a 38-29 lead at the intermission. Simpson\'s first basket, coming in the first minute of play, made her the school\'s all-time leading scorer. She moved passed Dawn Ann Higgins with whom she shared the mark of 1,328 points. Simpson grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, had five assists and blocked four shots.
Sophomore Samantha Wiley (Lincolnville, Maine) came off the bench to chip in 11 points, and senior Karen Sirois (Augusta, Maine) added 10 points and five assists.
Bridgewater State senior forward Catie Furtado (Taunton, Mass.) led all scorers with 26 points on the strength of her 11 of 22 shooting from the floor. Juniors Justine Farroba (North Attleboro, Mass.) had 12 points and Caitlin Feeney (Providence, R.I.) reached double figures with 10 points. Feeney also had 11 rebounds for the Bears.
A 10-4 spurt by the Beavers over the final 3:34 of the first half helped open the nine-point margin they enjoyed at halftime. Simpson had eight points during that stretch.
The Bears pulled within two (44-42) when Farroba made a pair of free throws with 13:42 left, but the Beavers responded with an 8-2 run, keyed by five points from Wiley, to increase the margin to 52-44.
Bridgewater State cut the lead to four on two occasions inside the 10-minute mark before a 21-8 surge by UMF pushed the lead to 17 (75-58) after Laflin scored inside with 2:40 left. Bridgewater State scored the final eight points to account for the nine-point margin at the buzzer.
UMF shot 38.9 percent (28 of 72) from the floor and 73.9 percent (17 of 23) at the line during the game, and had a 50-40 advantage on the boards. Bridgewater State finished the game shooting 36.7 percent (22 of 60) from the floor and 74.1 percent (20 of 27) at the charity stripe.