Jennifer Colpitts of Scarborough expected to score her 1,000th career point for the University of Maine-Fort Kent women’s basketball team last March.

It was going to be a great blending of personal and team achievement. The Bengals were making their first-ever trip to the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) national tournament in Pennsylvania as an underdog eighth seed.

Instead, Colpitts tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee early in the tourney opener – ending her season three points shy of the milestone.

“As soon as it happened my coach came over and the first thing I said was, ‘I tore it.’ I knew,” Colpitts said.

The knee injury did more than just delay her 1,000th point.

It also robbed her of a senior season with the UMFK women’s soccer team. She should have been a key cog, after starting nearly every game the previous two seasons and scoring 16 goals with 14 assists.

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Instead she could only watch as Fort Kent rolled through a 17-1-1 season, capped with the USCAA national women’s soccer championship thanks to an overtime victory against Daemon College.

“Definitely it was tough to watch but I’m happy for them,” Colpitts said.

“I wasn’t able to travel with them but I went to practices as often as I could and watched the practices and went to home games and stayed on the bench and tried to stay as involved as I could.”

Colpitts made her first appearance back in a Bengal uniform last Thursday when UMFK hosted Maine-Machias, a game it won easily, 95-29, to improve to 3-2.

Her debut was the team’s home opener.

“It felt great to be back. I hate sitting and watching, just to be on the court with my teammates and in Fort Kent in front of the university and community was important. And my parents (dad Terry, mom Lisa) were able to come up and watch the game so that was really nice too,” Colpitts said.

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Coming off the bench, Colpitts scored one basket and then was set up with a double screen and drove to the hoop for a layup, putting her over the 1,000-point mark.

“All the fans clapped for a really long time and then the next pause in play they gave me a game ball,” Colpitts said.

She finished with nine points to raise her career total to 1,006 and six steals in 14 minutes.

Colpitts, a 5-7 guard who averaged 13.6 ppg as a junior, is just the third women’s basketball player to score 1,000 points for the Bengals.

“I guess other people made it more of a big deal than I always thought it was, but it definitely is a great accomplishment,” Colpitts said.

Colpitts is optimistic about her team’s chances of returning to the USCAA tournament and hopeful she can be a part of it.

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A nursing major, she is due to begin her internship, called a preceptorship, at Maine Medical Center in Portland during the second semester.

“I’m hoping I can finish the season. I’m going to try to do my preceptorship after the season is over,” Colpitts said.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Bates College junior center Allaina Murphy of Poland Spring (Saint Dominic) recently scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting in an 80-75 win against NESCAC rival Colby College. Murphy is averaging 11.9 points and 5.9 rebounds through the first 10 games for Bates (6-4).

In the same game, Gabe Donahue of Cape Elizabeth scored 10 points for Colby. Donahue, a senior guard, has started every game and is averaging 5.6 points, 2.6 assists and six rebounds a game for Colby (3-6).

Megan Grondin of Cumberland (Greely) is a senior forward and three-year starter at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. This season Grondin is averaging 6.8 points and three rebounds per game for the 2-6 Cougars.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Bentley University sophomore Tyler McFarland of Rockport was recently named the NE-10 Player of the Week. Bentley started the season 7-0 but lost its third straight conference game to Franklin Pierce, 93-84, on Tuesday, despite 24 points from MacFarland (Camden Hills), 13 points and seven rebounds from Andrew Shaw of Saco (Thornton) and 10 points from Alex Furness of Wells.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

Bentley University sophomore diver Nicola Mancini of Falmouth is off to a strong start this season.

At last weekend’s WPI Gompei Invitational in Worcester, Mass., she set won both the 1- and 3-meter diving competitions, setting a school record in the 11-dive, 3-meter event. It was Mancini’s fourth record-setting effort this season. As a freshman she earned All-America status at the NCAA Division II Championship meet.

Elms College senior Keegan Goan of Westbrook helped his team beat UMass-Dartmouth in late November by winning the 50- and 100-butterfly events, swimming the fly leg in the winning 200-medley relay and placing second in the 50 backstroke.

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Saint Michael’s College juniors Nathan Paluso of Windham and Matt Pearson of Kennebunk placed one-two in the 100-breast stroke and Paluso also won the 1,000-free in a dual meet win against Norwich. Paluso tacked on a fifth-place finish later in the weekend in the 1,650-freestyle in a seven-team invitational at SUNY Potsdam.

Wheaton College sophomore Daniel Spencer of North Yarmouth (Greely) competed on the team’s 200-, 400- and 800-freestyle relay teams which placed fifth, sixth and sixth respectively at last weekend’s MIT Invitational.

Wheaton College senior Adrianne Madden of Falmouth and freshman Lindsey Thomsen of Gorham have been key freestyle swimmers in both the individual 100- and the 400-relay. Madden also competed in the 200-medley relay at the MIT Invitational, where Wheaton placed fifth out of eight teams.

MEN’S SOCCER

Roger Williams senior forward Trevor Hoxsie of Scarborough was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season after scoring 14 goals with five assists.

Hoxsie was also one of four CCC athletes tabbed to participate in the New England Intercollegiate Soccer League All-Star Game, which was played on Dec. 1.

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WOMEN’S SOCCER

Babson College junior Jessica DiPhilippo of Falmouth was recently named to the NSCAA Division III women’s All-New England fourth team.

DiPhilippo was earlier named a first-team choice for the New England Women’s and Men’s Conference (NEWMAC) after tying for sixth in the league scoring with a career-high seven goals and six assists, despite missing two games due to injury.

On Babson’s career scoring lists, DiPhilippo is currently tied for seventh with 16 assists and 15th with 44 points.

Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or at:

scraig@pressherald.com

Twitter: SteveCCraig

 


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