With the win the Huskies improve to 4-1 overall and move to 1-0 in the Little East. The loss snaps a two-game win streak for the Corsairs who dip to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the LEC.
Marble was 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from the free throw line en route her game-high 20 and added two assists and seven steals. Sophomore guard Stacy Kent (Northwood, N.H./Coe-Brown Academy) added 15 points draining four of five attempts from three-point range, while freshman guard Nicole Paradis (Skowhegan, Maine/Skowhegan Area) chipped in with 12 points, four assists and two steals off of the bench. Senior guard Katie Sibley (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) tallied 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor and passed off seven assists and grabbed five steals to round out a balanced attack for USM.
Sophomore guard Vicki Andruszkiewicz (Danver, Mass./Danvers) paced the Corsairs with a team-high 17 points while sophomore guard Ashley Chard (Burlington, Conn./St. Paul) added 13 points. Andruskiewicz was a solid 7-for-12 from the floor.
The Huskies shot a solid 40 percent from the field, knocking down four three pointers and converting 12-of-18 from the free throw line in the opening half to take 16-point lead, 44-28, at the break. Marble scored 10 of her points in the first half, while junior guard Dawn Ross (Gray, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) scored all eight of her points in the first 20 minutes of action.
Southern Maine blew the game open in the first five minutes of the second half outscoring the Corsairs 20-5. Junior forward Angela Santa Fe (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) connected on a three-pointer to start the USM run. Chard countered with a three of her own for the Corsairs, before the Huskies rattled off the next 10 points of the game to go ahead 57-31 with 16:41 to play. Sibley and Kent each scored a pair of lay-ups with Kent adding a free throw for a traditional three-point play. Marble added a lay-up off of a Kent assist before Kent knocked down on of her four threes of the game. Andruszkiewicz broke up the Huskies’ run with a short jumper before Marble and Sibley combined to score the next nine points to put Southern Maine ahead 66-33 with 14:51 on the clock.
The Huskies took a 40-point lead, 75-35, with 12:38 remaining, on a three-point play from Marble and then held off the Corsairs the rest of the way for the win.
Southern Maine finished the game shooting a respectable 43.1 percent (31-for-72) from the field and 50 percent from three-point range (9-for-18) while holding a commanding 52-30 edge on the boards. After opening the game shooting 40.9 percent in the first half, UMass Dartmouth finished shooting 36 percent from the field (19-for-50) and was hampered by 35 turnovers.
Southern Maine returns to action on the road at Colby College on Wednesday (December 6) for a 6 p.m. non-conference game in Waterville. UMass Dartmouth hosts Bridgewater State on Tuesday (December 5) at 7 p.m.