Buffalo, NY – The CMCC Women's Basketball team's 2024-25 campaign came to a close on Friday, after a 70-57 loss to #3 Miami University Hamilton in the USCAA National Tournament Semifinals. Ella Lavigne paced the #2 seeded Mustangs with a game-high 23 points.
Central Maine had a slow start to the first quarter, not hitting their first field goal until 4:34 into the game. The Harriers jumped out to an 11-4 lead midway through the opening quarter and stifled the Mustangs' offense to make it 21-10 to start the second.
Just like in Wednesday's quarterfinal, CMCC responded well in the second ten-minute stretch. Lavigne knocked down two three-pointers and Stella Laubenstein followed with a triple of her own to cut the deficit to eight points. Brooke Piscitelli converted back-to-back layups to make it 31-25 before free throws from Jenny Chaput and a jumper from Ava Smith had the Mustangs down just 36-30 heading into the halftime break.
The third belonged to Miami-Hamilton though. The Ohio based school locked things down defensively, not allowing a field goal until 3:47 remaining in the quarter, running the lead to 16 points up 48-32. Autumn Peterson hit a three and Chaput scored Central Maine's next seven points, but the damage was done. CMCC went into the fourth down by 13 points, it's largest deficit to overcome that late in a game all season.
The Mustangs never got within single digits over the last ten minutes, as the Harriers managed their lead and controlled the tempo. Lavigne scored 10 of her team's 15 points in the final quarter, including a pair of late threes in a last gasp push for a comeback. However, when the horn sounded Miami-Hamilton celebrated a 70-57 victory, leading wire-to-wire to claim a spot in the championship game.
CMCC was hampered by 29 turnovers over the course of the day and shot just 33.9% from the field. The Mustangs did win the rebound battle 47 to 39 and held the Harriers to just 2-for-14 from beyond the arc. Miami-Hamilton got 23 points from A'Vyonna Kinsey to tie Lavigne and 20 points from Beri Ngwa who played all 40 minutes of the game. Kirsten Cross and Juliana Kemper also reached double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively. Chaput's 10 points added some scoring support for Central Maine and six other players had at least one field goal.
Lavigne was once again the team's focal point, ending her two games at the USCAA Tournament with 57 total points. The Fort Collins, CO native continued her streak of scoring double digits in every game she played this season, finishing with 20+ points for the 18th time. She ends her time at CMCC with 1,274 points in just two seasons, placing her third on the program's all-time scoring list behind '05 graduate Ashley Swett (1,395) and '03 alum Lynn Girouard (1,682). Lavigne also claims the team's single season scoring record with 767 this year.
Central Maine ends its 2024-25 season with a 29-2 overall record, the most wins since the 2019 national championship-winning squad.