FARMINGTON – An Ashley Busque (Belgrade, ME) layup with under a minute to play lifted the University of Maine at Farmington women’s basketball team to a 52-51 victory over Colby College Tuesday night in Dearborn Gymnasium.
The Beavers ran their record to 13-10 with a trip to Vermont this weekend. Farmington is scheduled to close out the regular season at North Atlantic Conference foes Lyndon State (Friday) and Johnson State (Saturday). The Mules slipped to 13-11 and are scheduled to visit Amherst Saturday for a NESCAC quarterfinal matchup.
Busque finished with 12 points for the Beavers, while Caitlyn Laflin (Farmingdale, ME) recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Brittany York (Strong, ME) also pulled down 11 boards.
Farmington limited the Mules to 29.6 percent shooting (19 of 64), while hitting 35 percent (20 of 57) of its shots. Colby was also five of 20 (25 percent) from long distance.
Alison Cappelloni (Sudbury, MA), Rachael Mack (Augusta, ME) and Aarika Ritchie (Lee, ME) each scored nine points for Colby. The Mules made up for the poor shooting night by holding a 49-36 advantage off the glass with Mack and Sam Allen (Bridgton, ME) each grabbing 11 caroms and Cappeloni 10.
The Beavers carried a 28-21 advantage at intermission, but the Mules stormed into the second half with 12 straight points to take a 33-28 lead. The cushion was maintained throughout the frame and grew to 47-40 on a pair of free throws by Mary Cummings (Summit, NJ) with 6:53 to play. Farmington followed with the game’s next seven points to deadlock the contest at 47 with 3:33 remaining in the game.
Colby held command and pushed the lead back to 51-47 on a pair of Ritchie foul shots and a Cappelloni basket, but the Beavers made three of four free throws to trim the lead to 51-50 with 1:40 to play. After a Colby turnover, Busque drove to the basket from the top of the key and laid the ball in to give Farmington a 52-51 edge with 54 seconds to play. The Beavers made a pair of scoreless stands in the waning moments to seal the victory.
The first half was a frame of runs with the Mules taking the first charge with a 12-2 opening of the first 4:15. The Beavers bounced back with the contest’s next 12 points — eight from Busque — to take a 14-12 lead with 9:19 until the break. Colby regained the lead at 18-14, but Farmington outscored the visitors 14-3 over the half’s final 4:11 for the 28-21 lead.
