GORHAM, Maine — Led by senior Alex Moore’s (West Newbury, Mass./Pentucket Regional) game-high 22 points, the visiting Rhode Island College Anchorwomen held off a determined comeback bid by the University of Southern Maine Huskies to post a 60-57 victory Wednesday night in Little East Conference action on Fifield Court.

The victory snapped a five-game losing skid for the Anchorwomen and improved their record to 5-9 overall and 2-2 in LEC play.  The Huskies dropped their seventh consecutive game to slip to 2-12 on the season and 1-3 in the conference.

Moore sparked the Anchorwomen to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter hitting three straight three-points shots.  Moore’s three consecutive long-range shots gave the visitors a 15-2 lead five minutes into the game. In addition to her 22 points, Moore had three assists, five steals and seven rebounds.

Rookie Victoria Demers (Sutton, Mass.) added 15 points and five rebounds, and classmate Jordyn Gauvin (Fall River, Mass./Durfee) contributed 10 points.

Sophomore Alexa Srolovitz (Montreal, Quebec/New Hampton School) led three USM players in double figures with 14 points.  Freshman Hannah Clement (Orono, Maine) gave the Huskies a much needed second-half spark coming off the bench to score a season-high 13 points.  Rookie forward Chantel Eells (Turner, Maine/Leavitt) finished with a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.

In the second quarter, Southern Maine chopped five points off the RIC lead (25-17) with some better shooting (6 for 14) and taking better care of the ball.  At the other end, the Anchorwomen hit a cold spell offensive shooting just 27 percent (3 for 11) in the quarter.

Inserted into the game early in the third quarter, Clement made her presence felt immediately hitting a three-pointer as the Huskies slowly cut into the Anchorwomen lead.  Clement drained another three and added two free throws before the end of the quarter, and dished the ball to junior Emily Nicholson (Quispamsis, N.B./Kennebecasis Valley) for a three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining to give USM its first lead (41-40) of the game.

The Huskies opened the final quarter with a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 48-42.  Nicholson hit a jumper, Clement buried her third three and Srolovitz converted while the Anchorwomen turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions.

Down by five (52-47) with 5:50 to play, the Anchorwomen put together a 9-0 run to regain the lead for good.  Moore ignited the run with a three-point play, and Demers’ basket with 3:13 to play put the Anchorwomen ahead 53-52.  A Gauvin bucket with 1:09 to go capped off the run.

Srolovitz knocked down a three to cut the lead down to one, but Demers responded with an offensive rebound and the basket for RIC.  Eells scored in the paint to again make it a one-point game, but Gauvin iced the win with two free throws with 10 seconds to play.

USM had one last attempt to tie needing a three, but Nicholson’s shot from beyond the arc hit off the iron.

RIC finished the game shooting 35.4 percent from the floor (17 for 48) and 66.7 percent (22-33) at the foul line.  USM came back from its cold first quarter to shoot 32.4 percent (22-68) from the field, but converted just 33 percent of its free throws (7 for 21).

Southern Maine hits the road this Saturday (1:00 p.m.) for a Little East Conference game at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  Rhode Island College returns home to host Keene State College in an LEC contest on Saturday (1:00 p.m.).

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