Ray Mitchell at the foul line

Presque Isle, ME - The University of Maine at Presque Isle men’s and women’s basketball teams both dropped hard fought Sunrise Conference games to rival University of Maine at Fort Kent on Saturday afternoon at Wieden Gymnasium.

The Lady Bengals placed three players in double-digit scoring as they earned the 64-48 victory over the Lady Owls in the first game of the day.  With the loss, UMPI moves to 5-11 on the season and 5-2 in Sunrise Conference play; both losses in conference coming to UMFK.  It was the third pairing of the two teams on the year.

Freshman shooting guard Emily Pelletier (Fort Kent, ME) led her Owl team with 12 points in an impressive 4-for-6 shooting night from behind the arc.  Teammate Megan Korhonen (Littleton, ME) finished the game with 9 points and 6 rebounds in 33 minutes of play, while Julie Peers (Caswell, ME) chipped in with 7 points and 8 rebounds.  Logahn Walker (Strong, ME) added 7 points and Emily Moore (Lisbon, ME) dished out 6 assists and finished with 5 points on the day; Walker and Moore both earned 4 steals each.

The Owls were held to 35% shooting from the floor and a low of 46% from the foul line, while their opponents shot 50% from the floor on the day and outrebounded the Owls 37-22. 

UMFK was led by Amber Garrison and Presque Isle native Angela Norsworthy who both finished with 13 points in the Bengal win.

The UMPI men’s game proved for an exciting contest; despite leading the entire game, the Owls battled to an 91-88 final minute loss.  The game showed the potential of a young Owl team; with the loss, UMPI moves to 4-12 on the season and 4-5 in Sunrise Conference play.

Ray Mitchell (Cleveland, OH) had a monster game, leading his team and tying the game high with 32 points and earning a double-double with 10 rebounds.  Patrick Manifold (Great Yarmouth, UK) also earned a double-double on the day, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Chris Coffin (Presque Isle, ME) added 16 points in 6-for-11 shooting night, 4-for-8 from behind the arc; Coffin also dished out 4 assists in the Owl loss.  Devon Peaslee (Woolwich, ME) added 10 points and 6 rebounds in the game, while passing out a season-high 9 assists.

UMFK was led by Jimmy Lopez who finished with 32 points, while Brandon Fox and Manny Odugbela added 20 and 19 points respectively in the win.

The Owls shot 48% from the floor on the day, matching their opponents.  They hassled the Bengals to 17 turnovers, but were outrebounded 38-35.

Both Owl teams return to Sunrise Conference action on Tuesday, February 9th as they head to the University of Maine at Machias.  The women tip-off at 5:30 pm, followed by the men’s game at 7:30 pm.