GORHAM, Maine – Junior Norma Waggett (Saugus, Mass.) scored a game-high 35 points to lead the
Salem State University Vikings to a 78-69 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in a nonconference women’s basketball game Tuesday night at Fifield Court.
The win is the second straight for Salem State and improves their overall record to 5-3. Southern Maine dips to 2-6 with the loss.
Waggett was 14-for-23 from the field as the Vicking shot a lights out 51.7 percent from the field as a team, including a 60.0 percent effort from three-point range (12-for-20). Waggett was 4-for-5 from behind the arc, and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to record a double-double. Senior Kaitlyn Bryan (Lowell, Mass.) scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while junior Kate Lipka (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) tossed in 13 points.
Juniors Emily Nicholson (Quispamsis, New Brunswick/Kennebecasis) and Miranda Nicely (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue) each recorded game-highs with 21 and 20 points respectively. Sophomore Alexa Srolovitz (Montreal, Quebec/New Hampton) added 12 points and four assists. Freshman Jackie Luckhardt (Londonderry, N.H.) added seven points, five assists and six steals, while sophomore Kim Howrigan (Fairfield, Vt./Bellows Free Academy) added nine points and four rebounds despite playing just eight minutes with foul trouble.
Salem State used a remarkable shooting performance to jump ahead of the Huskies 23-15 after the first quarter, and led 38-27 at the half. The Vikings were 7-for-10 from three-point range after the first two quarters, as Waggett and Byran combined for 27 points.
Southern Maine trailed by as many as 17 points late in the third quarter but were able to claw their way back into the game. After a layup form junior Saran Kaba (Dorchester, Mass./O’Bryant) made it 57-40 with 2:27 left in the third USM scored seven straight points on a layup from Nicely, a three from Nicholson and a pair of free throws from Srolovitz to trim its deficit to 10, 57-47 with 39 seconds to play. SSU made it 59-47 at the end of the quarter with a jumper to head into the fourth.
In the fourth, SSU continued to hit from long-range and led by 21, 71-50, on seven straight points from Waggett on a three, and two baskets in the paint with 5:57 to play. Southern Maine used a 13-3 run over the next three minutes to cut the advantage to 12, including seven points from Nicholson, but the Huskies were unable to get any closer than nine the rest of the way.
Southern Maine returns to Little East Conference action on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) when it hosts the Colonials of Western Connecticut. Salem State hosts Plymouth State on Thursday (7:00 p.m.) in a non-conference game.
