Auburn, ME – The CMCC women's basketball team remains unbeaten on its home court after a 78-60 victory over NCAA DIII opponent Vermont State University-Lyndon on Friday night. Jenny Chaput paced the Mustangs with a game-high 14 points while Ava Smith (12), Riley Hebler (11), Ella Lavigne (11), and Cassie Ririnui (11) all reached double digits in scoring. The win comes nearly a month after the Mustangs opened their season at home against Crandall University back on October 4th.
The Hornets did sting the Mustangs in the opening minute. Niyjah Wright, Sage Smith, and Kadienne Whitcomb all made shots as the visitors raced out to a 7-0 lead, forcing an irate head coach Andrew Morong to call a timeout.
"A little disappointing start to the game and disappointing first half overall," Morong said. "I don't know how we weren't ready to play when a NCAA Division III school walks into our gym. We just haven't developed that killer mindset yet. Young team, work in progress."
Central Maine responded by closing to within one at the end of the first quarter, trailing 22-21 after ten minutes.
VTSU-Lyndon held that one-point advantage heading into the locker room behind nine first-half points from Whitcomb and eight from Ella Huntington. Smith was big for the hosts scoring eight points in the second quarter to help keep pace, just one behind Lavigne's nine for the half.
The Mustangs emerged from the locker room and took over in the third quarter, scoring 20 points and holding the Hornets to only five to take a 57-43 lead.
Chaput had a great start to the second half. The first-year out of Edward Little High School scored 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting using her 6'0" frame to get open looks in the low block.
"We went into the locker room and coach emphasized that we should be up by 20," said Chaput. "He really grilled that into us. I think we came out with energy. When I got that first basket that gave me a little bit of confidence and coach said, 'give it to Jenny, they can't keep anyone out front of her.' From then on our bigs just went to work."
Ririnui took over in the fourth quarter. The 6'2" forward from New Zealand finished with nine rebounds to go along with her 11 points, bossing her way into the paint down the stretch. Lavigne ended with a double-double grabbing 12 defensive rebounds to continue her stellar start to the season. CMCC outscored VTSU-Lyndon 48-26 in the paint and won the rebound battle 42-35. Central Maine had 35 of its points come from the bench.
"I think our fitness level really showed and our depth," said Morong. "We had a lot of girls come off the bench and make big impacts, especially with us missing essentially two starters and two all-conference caliber players today. Our bench stepped up."
CMCC next heads to UMaine-Augusta to face the Moose at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, November 6th. The Mustangs then return home next weekend when they host Washington County Community College on Saturday, November 9th.
