BIDDEFORD — Alanna Vose knocked down six 3-pointers in the first half to help top-seeded University of New England to a 29-point cushion at the break and the Nor’easters rolled from there, chalking up an 81-56 victory over fourth-seeded Western New England University in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Championship played Thursday at the Harold Alfond Forum.
UNE (22-5) will make its fifth title match appearance in six seasons and look for a third consecutive league crown on Saturday when No. 3 Curry College (a 66-49 winner over No. 7 Endicott) comes into town for the tournament final.
The Golden Bears (17-10) will await word on a possible selection into next week’s ECAC New England Championship.
Vose finished with 27 points to lead UNE, including 24 in the first half on 9 of 10 shooting (6 of 7 from long range). The junior guard only took three shots following halftime, all from behind the arc, and knocked down one more to tie the single-season program record (82) shared by Alli Gamache and Amanda Brown.
The Nor’easters received 16 points out of Kelly Coleman and another 15, to go with seven rebounds, from Lauren Hayden. Meghan Gribbin dished out nine assists to move into fifth place all-time (337) at UNE. The hosts connected on 54.5 percent of their shot attempts and made 11 of 20 3-pointers in the contest, while totaling a 36-23 margin on the glass.
For Western New England, Dorothy O’Neill made 4 of 6 from downtown to tally 16 points. Chelsea Vujs added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
UNE was up 7-5 in the early going before rattling off 15 unanswered (featuring eight points from Vose) to gain a 17-point lead. From 22-11, only a trey by O’Neill prevented a 17-0 UNE spurt as the advantage swelled to 25 (39-14).
The Nor’easters made 20 of 29 shots (69 percent) during the initial frame, and 8 of 10 from deep, to grow the spread to 51-22 after 20 minutes. At intermission, Vose was five points shy of her career-best that she had established back in January against the Golden Bears.
The gap never dipped below 22 in the 2nd half.
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