With the win the Huskies, who extend their winning streak to 28 games and up their record to 30-2, advance to their fourth Final Four in program history and first appearance since the 2000 season. Springfield closes out its season with a 25-6 record. The Huskies will join Scranton, Millikin and Randolph-Macon in the Final Four hosted by Virginia Wesleyan University in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va. March 18-19. Southern Maine will play Millikin in the national semifinal game, Friday, March 18. Millikin defeated defeated Calvin 63-56 in the Great Lakes Region Section Championship.
Myles led five USM players in double-figures as the Huskies used a balanced offensive attack to halt the Springfield Pride. Junior forward Ashley Marble (Topsfield, Maine/Topfield) scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds while junior co-captain Donna Cowing (Weeks Mills, Maine) added 13 points on a 5-for-8 effort from the field. Junior guard Katie Frost (Calais, Maine/Calais) chipped in with 11 points and a game-high five assists and sophomore reserve forward Shannon Kynoch (S. Burlington, Vermont/South Burlington) was a catalyst off of the bench for the Huskies netting all 11 of her points in the second half.
Freshman guard Tara McCarthy (Bristol, R.I./LaSalle Academy) led all scorers with a game-high 22 points and was named to the Northeast Sectional All-Tournament team to lead the Pride. Junior guard Courtney Parvin (Brackney, Pa./Montrose Area) added 17 points and six rebounds and all-tournament selection Kacey Wunsch (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) chipped in with nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Ahead by eight, 58-50, and with Springfield still within striking distance, following a pair of scores from Springfield on a Christine Cotter (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton) three and a jumper from Parvin, with 10:27 left in the game the Huskies strung together the first of two key second half runs to close the door on the Pride.
After Parvin’s jumper, Southern Maine rattled off nine unanswered points over the next two minutes to inflate their lead to 17 points, 67-50, with 8:42 to go. Myles started the Huskies pivotal run with a lay-up off of a pretty driving feed from freshman guard Trish Sylvain (Weare, N.H./New Hampton). Kynoch then scored the next four Husky points with her first two coming off of an offensive rebound and the put back and the second on a turn-around jumper for a 64-50 USM advantage. Frost capped the run for Southern Maine drilling her three of the contest.
Springfield continued to fight however and knocked the Huskies’ lead to 11 with a 6-0 run to trail 67-56 with six minutes on the clock. Parvin hit a lay-up off of a feed from McCarthy and then McCarthy knocked down a jumper of her own to cut the USM lead to 67-54, before sophomore guard LaToya Franklin (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) was fouled collecting a defensive rebound and hit both ends of a one-and-one to pull the Pride to within 11.
But the Huskies halted any thoughts of a come-back bid by the Pride outscoring Springfield 10-4 over the next four minutes to regain its 17-point cushion, 77-60 with two and a half to go. Marble scored four of her 15 points in the run, while Kynoch continued to be an offensive sparkplug for the Huskies scoring four points on a jumper and a lay-up as the Huskies held on for the 80-69 final.
Southern Maine finished the game shooting a solid 47.6 percent from the floor on 30-of-63 shooting, including a 35.7 percent clip from three-point range (5-14). Springfield shot 35.2 percent for the game making 25-of-71 attempts and were 6-of-22 from three point range for a 27.3 percent mark. The Huskies also controlled the boards grabbing 47 caroms to 37 for Springfield.