Auburn, ME – CMCC Women's Basketball improved to 10-0 on the season and 5-0 in Yankee Small College Conference play, after a 125-35 victory over Word of Life Bible Institute. All 15 available players featured for the Mustangs, playing at least eight minutes, and eight of them finished in double figures. Central Maine set all-time program records for points, assists, offensive rebounds, and forced turnovers in a single game.
Josie Friend led the way with a double-double. The first-year from Melbourne, Australia had a game-high 18 points on an efficient 9-of-15 shooting. She also pulled down 12 rebounds including ten on the offensive glass. Hunter Hartsgrove (15), Kennedy Lampert (13), Breanna Dwyer (12), Caitlyn McCoy (11), Autumn Peterson (11), Keilani Horne (10), and Anais Balla Zambo (10) also all finished with double digit scoring nights.
The Huskies never led but kept paced with the Mustangs through the opening few minutes. Central Maine broke the game open with a 20-2 run midway through the first quarter. Head coach Andrew Morong continued to spread minutes around his three groups of five players. Dwyer was effective in the first, scoring eight points off the bench, and Lampert had a fantastic second quarter shooting 4-for-4 with three triples for 11 points in four minutes. When the horn went for halftime, CMCC had built a 71-25 lead.
The third quarter featured a special moment when captain Zoe Bedford marked her return from injury with her first three-pointer of the season. The redshirt sophomore had worked hard to get back on the court, knocking down her first field goal in nearly 13 months.
The Mustangs were lights out in the fourth quarter, going an incredibly efficient 14-for-19 from the field (73.7%). They also moved the ball well, recording 11 assists in the final period and having ten different players connect on a shot. On the other side, Ellie Rishel finished out the game leading Word of Life with 11 points while Stephanie Augusta chipped in eight.
The #1 ranked team in USCAA DII finished the night shooting 48.6% overall. Central Maine also won the rebounding battle 57 to 21 pulling down 32 offensive boards. The Mustangs set program records, dealing out 43 assists and scoring 125 points. The 125 points eclipsed the old single-game high of 121 set by the 2022-23 team against Paul Smith's College.
CMCC next hits the road on Friday to face USCAA DI opponent Bryant & Stratton College-Albany. The Mustangs then finish off the first semester at home on December 20th against Vermont State University-Randolph, as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.
