South Portland, ME – CMCC Women's Basketball capped its ninth straight season winning the YSCC regular season title with an 87-68 victory over rival SMCC. The Mustangs finish their conference slate with a 13-1 record while improving to 23-1 overall. Central Maine led Southern Maine by just one point at halftime before scoring 55 in the second half to pull away. Caitlyn McCoy led four different scorers who reached double figures while 11 total players tallied points.
"Our intensity in the first half just was not there," said head coach Andrew Morong. "For the second time in less than a month, we started a game as if the other team would just roll over. SMCC deserves credit for executing and keeping the game close. We asked for toughness and confidence in the pregame, and we did not see either until the second half. While I am glad we responded, this is February basketball and we cannot expect to win games by playing CM basketball for only 10 to 15 minutes."
The visitors scored the first six points of the game to open up an early lead, but the hosts hung tough. Ava Smith, Breanna Dwyer, Abilene Corson, and Gabbie Tibbetts all scored four points in the opening ten minutes. Milo Seams sunk a layup with 18 seconds left to cut the deficit to two, only for Smith to go the other way and connect on a jumper. That made it 19-15 Mustangs after one.
SMCC started the second quarter on a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the game. CMCC answered with six straight points of its own, four of which came from the foul line. Stella Laubenstein and Cassie Ririnui both made baskets, but it was not enough to separate the teams for good. Julia Reed and Julissa McBarron combined to close the gap, and Skyler Tinker retook the lead with a layup in the final minute of the half. McCoy responded with her first basket of the quarter, drilling a three-pointer to make it 32-31 Mustangs at the break.
Both teams came out swinging in the third. It was the highest-scoring quarter for both sides by at least ten points, with CMCC holding a slight edge 33-26. Reed and Ashley Mullen hit early threes for the Seawolves to tie the game on two occasions but were never able to regain the lead. Anais Balla Zambo racked up 11 points in five minutes by going 7-for-7 on free throws, and McCoy and Dwyer each added six points.
An extra basket awarded by the officials meant Southern Maine trailed by nine going into the fourth quarter. McCoy added back-to-back threes as part of a 9-0 run that all but put the game away. The hosts could not get any closer than 14 points back the rest of the way. Keilani Horne totaled seven points in the final quarter.
The victory runs the Mustangs' winning streak to 23 straight games over the Seawolves dating back to the 2015-16 season. CMCC controlled a 37-18 edge on the boards and shot 44.8% from the floor compared to 34.6% for SMCC. McCoy's 18 points matched the 18 from Southern Maine's McBarron. Balla Zambo (13), Horne (12), and Dwyer (10) also hit double digits in points for Central Maine. Ririnui and Tibbetts chipped in seven apiece while Smith and Corson each had six.
Next up, CMCC finishes its regular season schedule on Saturday with a visit to NJCAA side CCRI in Rhode Island. Tip-off against the Knights is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
