Box Score
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  The nationally-ranked University of Southern Maine women's basketball team rebounded from its first Little East Conference loss of the season Saturday, racing to a 17-point lead after one quarter and easing to a 98-72 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University at Geissler Gymnasium.
 
Three days removed from a 70-62 loss at Rhode Island College that snapped a 16-game winning streak and handed Southern Maine (20-2, 12-1 LEC) its first conference loss of the season, the Huskies took the lead for good in the opening minutes of the game Saturday and outscored Eastern (8-13, 5-7 LEC) 16-2 over the final four minutes of the quarter to move out to its 30-13 lead after one quarter.
 
The loss snapped a five-game home winning streak for Eastern over Southern Maine, which remained one game ahead of Rhode Island College in the conference standings with three games remaining. The Anchorwomen kept pace with a 64-52 win at the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday. By virtue of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's 84-55 loss at Plymouth State University, Eastern retains a share of fifth place in the standings with the Corsairs (the top six seeds qualify for the LEC  tournament which gets underway Feb. 24). Both Eastern and UMass Dartmouth have four LEC regular-season games remaining.
 
Sophomore forward Dakota Shipley exceeded her season scoring average of 11.8 in the first quarter by canning six of seven field goals en route to 13 points.  Shipley was one of three USM players to finish with 21 points. Six-foot senior Jaycie Christopher had 22 points for the Huskies and was followed closely by Shipley and sophomore Lucy Wiles, who each had 21.
 
Despite dropping their third straight home decision, the Warriors were buoyed in the second quarter by the outside shooting of sophomore point guard Liv Cassesse (Wallingford), who canned consecutive three-pointers 40 seconds apart to get Eastern to within six, 32-26, midway through the second quarter.
 
At that point, LEC scoring leader Christopher  converted a conventional three-point play and minutes later, the top-ranked three-point shooting team in the conference unloaded three three-pointers in just under two minutes to push the USM lead to 18, 49-31, with 1:35 left in the first half. Wiles, last year's LEC Rookie-of-the-Year swished a shot from the top of the circle and Shipley followed with a pair from long range 30 seconds apart to account for those nine quick points.
 
First-year wing Maddie Topa (New Hartford) led Eastern and shared game-high scoring honors with a career-high 22 points, with Cassesse finishing with 15. Junior Marissa Nudd (Colchester) was limited to a season-low nine points but grabbed six rebounds, with six-foot junior Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, NH) adding eight points (4-of-4 FG) and five rebounds.
 
In the final analysis, the LEC's second-rated team (Eastern) in three-point defense was no match for the conference's top-rated three-point offense. The Huskies were 10 of 23 (43.5 percent) from distance on the way to amassing a season-high point total. The points were the most allowed by Eastern this year. Ranked second in the LEC in free throw percentage, USM was 16-of-17 from the stripe.
 
 Eastern visits Rhode Island College Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Anchorwomen (17-5, 11-2 LEC) posted a 70-58 LEC win over Eastern Jan. 21 at Geissler Gym.