PRESQUE ISLE, ME

UMPI Women's Basketball took to the court for the second straight day over the weekend, fresh off their first conference win of the season over Lesley the night prior. The Owls had a tough matchup with Thomas College and were much more competitive against the Terriers this time in the first half, but in that second half, the Terriers were able to take care of their business.

How it Happened:

UMPI fell behind 12-2 midway through the first quarter prompting a Coach Knight timeout, but the Owls were then able to quiet the tide after that, winning the rest of the quarter 5-0 to make it 12-7 going into the second. Thomas offense lay dormant at the end of the first, it woke up quickly to start the second. The Terriers opened it back up to a double digit advantage at 20-9, while the Owls fought hard to keep the game in hand going into halftime.

Trailing by 11, the Owls still had a fighting chance as they played even with Thomas for the rest of the quarter making it 27-16 at halftime. The defensive effort, particularly on player of the year candidate Pryell Kesse-Beda of Thomas, holding her to zero first half points is what kept them in it.

Unfortunately, UMPI didn't have 40 minutes of that as Kesse-Beda went off for 18 points in the second half to all of a sudden lead Thomas in scoring as she usually does. A 23-11 third quarter made it a 23 point game going into the final ten minutes. The short-handed Owls were out of gas though they never gave up, keeping the fourth period competitive, losing it 14-11. Thomas took the game 64-38.

Top Performers:

Though the Owls offense sputtered on this day, Nevaeh Bello stepped up to lead UMPI in scoring. She had 11 points on 2-3 from three-point range and had six rebounds. Aleyah Matheson had 10, and Logan Curtis had seven, as well as eight rebounds to lead UMPI on the glass throughout her 19 minutes.  

Next Up:

UMPI will have one of their tougher weekends of the year as far as matchups go as they host Maine Maritime Academy on Friday night, followed by University of Maine at Farmington on Saturday afternoon.