AUGUSTA, ME

UMPI Women's Basketball took to the road for the second time in four days to play USCAA opponent University of Maine at Augusta at the Augusta Civic Center. Things started out slowly for the Owls, but they showed no quit the whole game and gave the Moose a scare after UMA controlled the game early.

The Owls couldn't seem to buy a basket early on, shooting just 2 for 18 from the field in the first quarter. After one frame they trailed 18-5. The second quarter was a little better for UMPI who scored 12 points to UMA's 16, but they still struggled from the field going 4 of 17.

The third quarter is where things started to change. The Owls played pesky defense to keep them in the game. Going into the final 10 minutes, the score was 46-35 in favor of the home team. The Owls started making shots in the fourth quarter and nearly matched their game total in the first three quarters with 28 points. They shot 62.5% as a team. Despite this high clip down the stretch, the Moose proved to be too much for the Owls as they buried their free throws at nearly 90%, which was what sealed the game. The Moose scored 17 of their 25 fourth quarter points from the charity stripe.

Top Performers:

The Owls were led by their point guard, Anaira Ayala who put up 25 points. Ayala caught fire in that fourth quarter, scoring 19 points in the final ten minutes. She buried seven three-pointers—five of which were in the fourth. Alexis Ireland added 13 points, and had a stellar total of 18 rebounds. 10 of Ireland's boards were on the offensive glass. Jovanna Oliva also added 10 points despite fouling out with nearly four minutes to go.

The Owls fall to 0-2 on the season and will look to regroup this weekend when they travel to Farmington, Maine for the UMF tip-off tournament. The Owls will face these same Moose on Friday night before taking on the Cadets of Norwich University on Saturday,