Ladies’s basketball: Due to sturdy second half, Colby cruises previous Plymouth State

WATERVILLE – It may not have been the start the Colby women’s basketball team was looking for on Monday night against Plymouth State.

But it was definitely the goal.

Aided by a third quarter in which they beat the Panthers by 16 points, the Mules achieved a 68-48 non-conference win at the Margaret M. Crook Center.

Colby, who suffered his first loss of the season against Bowdoin, opponents of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, on Saturday, improved to 7-1. Plymouth State falls to 1-4.

Caroline Smith and Keagan Dunbar led Colby each with 14 points, while Carly Christofori added 13 points.

“We had two slow starts, at Bowdoin (on Saturday) and here tonight,” said Smith, a sophomore security guard and a graduate of Freeport High School. “I think we were just talking in the locker room about holding each other accountable and playing Colby basketball.”

The Mules had some early shooting problems which the Panthers took advantage of and took a 13-10 lead in the first quarter. But Colby would find his groove, and thanks to a 10-0 run in the middle of the second quarter and a big lead on the boards (21 rebounds against Plymouth State seven for half) the Mules needed the lead 27:22 .

Colby’s Caroline Smith wrests a rebound from Plymouth State defenders during Monday’s women’s basketball action in Waterville. Rich Abrahamson / Morning Sentinel

But Colby jumped at Plymouth from the start of the second half, taking advantage of an 11-0 run and a 9-0 run. From there, the Mules took the 58:37 lead to end the third quarter before retiring to their bench for much of the fourth quarter to end the game.

“Kudos to (Plymouth State), they got off to a hot start and fired some early shots,” said Colby head coach Chenel Harris-Smith. “They were cheered, and I think our girls were a little on their heels. But they came out with the energy (in the second half) and decided that we shouldn’t let our offensive dictate our energy. We let our defense do it. We attacked it really defensively. They came out with phenomenal energy, but it all came from our defense. “

Colby was dominant on the boards too, beating Plymouth with a 47-21 mark. Colby guard Chiamaka Ubani was a special force who led the mules with 12 rebounds and added nine points.

“(Rebounding) is something we’ve been talking about since the end of the season,” said Harris-Smith. “We really made up our minds that we had to dive in and crash the boards. (Plymouth) is a great rebound team. You have multiple players averaging more than six rebounds per game. So a big focus for us was crashing the boards and taking advantage of some of our inconsistencies. We had a height advantage (of players) one to five on the floor. “

The Panthers were led by Alessia Salzillo and Sabrina Vlahovic, who each scored 14 points. Autumn Nelson added six points for Plymouth.

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