When the University of Southern Maine women’s basketball team played Rhode Island College on Saturday, the Huskies needed – if you will excuse the coachspeak – to step it up.

Senior Nicole Garland of Portland (and Deering High) volunteered.

Garland, a 5-foot-7 guard, scored a career-high 26 points to lead USM to a 72-68 win.

On Jan. 10, USM played the Anchorwomen in Providence and experienced their worst loss of the year, 74-50. RIC (20-3, 11-1) was cruising through the Little East Conference, but now the Huskies (18-5, 9-3) are a legitimate threat.

In Saturday’s game, Garland did what she does best, hitting four 3-pointers. She was also 8 for 8 from the free-throw line.

“Nicole had a really nice game,” USM Coach Gary Fifield said. “She has always been a 3-point shooter. But she has worked on all parts of her game.

“She can hit the pull-up jumper or go to the basket. Her defense has improved tremendously, as well as her court vision and her passing.”

Garland has hit 60 3-pointers this year. The next highest total for the Huskies is 19 by Erin McNamara. Garland is the third-leading scorer at 12.5 points per game, behind Courtney Cochran of Waite and Haley Jordan of Falmouth. She is also third in assists, behind McNamara and Renee Nichols of Sebago.

USM should get the No. 2 seed in the league tournament if it wins its remaining two games, at home at 5:30 p.m. today against Plymouth State, and Saturday at UMass-Dartmouth

FIFIELD IS NEARING another milestone in his shining career. He is two wins away from his 600th career victory. In his 24th season at USM, Fifield has a career mark of 598-111, ranking him No. 6 in wins among active Division III coaches.

THE 1,000-POINT milestone has been celebrated at Bowdoin and St. Joseph’s recently. Polar Bears senior Jill Henrikson of Bath surpassed the mark Saturday, and the Monks’ Ashley Geel of St. George accomplished the feat on Feb. 7.

Earlier this season, Chris Petzy of the St. Joseph’s men’s team reached 1,000 points.

University of New England’s Kelley Paradis of South Paris and Margo Russell of Madison reached the plateau last year as juniors. Paradis is up to 1,415 points, and Russell has 1,247.

Next up is USM’s Cochran. She has 987 points.

ST. JOSEPH’S looks ready for its Great Northeast Athletic Conference women’s basketball showdown at 7 p.m. tonight in Boston against Emmanuel.

Both the Monks and the Saints are 17-6 overall and 11-0 in the league. St. Joseph’s romped through its last game, beating third-place Rivier, 78-41.

Emmanuel has also been winning by big margins and beat Rivier 85-48 last month.

The winner gets the top seed in the league tournament, which begins next week.

THE UNIVERSITY of New England is one win away from clinching the top seed in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Nor’easters (19-4, 14-2) are at Endicott tonight.

THE NESCAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments begin earlier than most, with quarterfinals on Saturday.

The Bowdoin women (18-6, 7-3) are the No. 3 seed and will host sixth-seeded Wesleyan at 3 p.m.

The Bowdoin men (17-7, 5-5), seeded sixth, are at Wesleyan.

MOLLY CARL, an All-America runner from USM, added another accomplishment to her resume. Carl, a junior from York, was named to the Division III All-Academic cross country team. A geography/anthropology major, Carl carries a 3.8 grade-point average.

This past weekend, Carl led the Huskies’ indoor track and field team to its 12th straight Little East and New England Alliance championships. Carl won the mile (5:13.22) and the 3,000 meters (10:15.17, breaking her own school record) and was second in the 800 (2:23.56).

USM finished third in the men’s meet.

TODD KENEBORUS, a baseball All-American at St. Joseph’s, signed with the London (Ontario) Rippers of the independent Frontier League. Keneborus, of Hollis (and Cheverus High), graduated last spring after compiling a .399 average, 14 home runs and 150 RBI over four seasons with the Monks.

The Frontier League begins its season in mid-May.

TWO POINTS separate the top five teams in Hockey East. First-place UMass-Lowell has 28 points, followed by Boston College and Boston University with 27, then Merrimack and Maine at 26.

While the Black Bears play host to Massachusetts this weekend, the other top teams will battle each other – UMass-Lowell vs. BU, and Merrimack vs. BC.

THE UMAINE women’s hockey team dropped to fifth place in Hockey East after being swept by first-place Northeastern. The Black Bears finish the regular season with two home games against New Hampshire. The softball team got off to a tough start with four straight losses before beating Long Island 1-0 in a tournament in Tampa, Fla. Women’s basketball freshman guard Kelsey Mattice of Cicero, N.Y., has left the team after playing sparingly in recent games. She had averaged 2.5 points per game.

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at: kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

 

Copy the Story Link