CASTINE, ME – The Lyndon State College women's basketball team suffered through its coldest shooting night of the season, resulting in a 57-37 loss at Maine Maritime Academy in a North Atlantic Conference Tournament Quarterfinal on Tuesday evening.  With the win the #4 seed Mariners improve to 19-7 on the season and advance to face top seed Castleton University in a Friday semifinal.  The Hornets close their most successful NCAA Division III season at 14-12.

 

The Hornets struck first with a jumper from Kelsey Jacobs (Braintree, VT), but the Mariners scored the next four points to take a 4-2 lead at 7:46 of the first quarter. Gabrielle Foy (Wilton, ME) hit a three-pointer to give Lyndon a 5-4 advantage just seconds later but Maine Maritime's Alayne Felix (Mahopac, NY) added four-unanswered points to give the Mariners an 8-5 lead with just under six minutes to play in the first quarter.  Lyndon closed the gap to one with 3:24 to go, but the Mariners then began to pull away, taking a 15-9 lead into the second quarter.

 

A layup from Felix stretched the Mariners' lead to 17-9 early in the second quarter, but the Hornets responded with an 8-2 run to close the gap to just two (19-17) at 6:11.  Megan McLean (Eliot, ME) connected on a three to spark an eight-point run for the Mariners at 4:24 and Maine Maritime carried a 10-point lead (34-24) into halftime. 

 

The Mariners then held the Hornets to just four points in the third quarter and nine points in the fourth quarter to pull away for the 57-37 victory.

 

Felix led Maine Maritime with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Melinda Ogden (Searsport, ME) added 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals and McLean ended the evening with seven points, and a game-high six assists.

 

Mikayla Hodge (Newbury, VT), Lyndon's only double figure scorer, tallied her 25th double-double in 26 games with a game-high 17 points and 14 rebounds.  She also recorded two steals.  Hodge ends her stellar Hornet career with 1,448 points and 1,231 rebounds.

 

Maine Maritime shot 42.3% from the floor, while the Hornets shot 22.0% overall and 24.0% from behind the arc.  The Mariners held a 41-40 edge in rebounds and dished out 17 assists to only nine for the Hornets.