Presque Isle, ME - With a North Atlantic Conference women's basketball playoff berth on the line, Vermont State University Lyndon and the University of Maine at Presque Isle battled toe to toe for four quarters on Saturday afternoon.  In the end, it was the Owls who hung on for a 69-66 victory that clinched a playoff berth.  UMPI improved to 12-11 on the season and 7-7 in NAC play.  Lyndon dropped to 10-14 overall and 4-10 in conference.

The game was tightly contested throughout.UMPI took a four-point lead into halftime and a three-point lead into the final quarter.  The Owls looked to have taken control when Lindsey Hamilton's layup pushed the UMPI lead to nine, 67-58, with 4:10 to go.  Lyndon stormed back however,  A Sage Smith (Colebrook, NH) layup followed by back to back three-pointers from Kerigan Disorda (Benson, VT) and Kadienne Whitcomb (West Burke, VT) cut the UMPI lead to a single point, 67-66, with under two minutes remaining.  Emily Wheaton's layup made it a three-point game, then Lyndon missed two opportunities to tie the game in the final seconds.

Alexis Ireland led UMPI with a 20 point, 12 rebound double double.  Wheaton added 13 points and four assists and Aleia Milano chipped in with 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Smith and Whitcomb scored 16 points apiece to pace Lyndon.  Riann Fortin (Newport, VT) posted a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Kiara Mack (Winooski, VT) also reached double figures with ten points.

Lyndon will close out the season with a non-conference matchup at Vermont State University Johnson on Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm.