Page 17 - The Bell Tower - Winter/Spring 2014

Men’s Basketball Recap
The UMFK men’s basketball team battled
through a tough schedule, and a young
roster to finish the 2013-2014 season with
a record of 7 wins and 21 losses. It was the
second straight year that the Bengals were
shut out of post-season play. The program
had made twelve straight trips to the post-
season, including a NAIA national appear-
ance in 2010 and a trip to the USCAA nationals in 2012.
The Bengals began the season with a 3-3 record, including a big road against cross- county rivals, the University of Maine at Presque Isle in mid-November. However, the Bengals lost six straight games to close out the first half, including a tough defeat at UMPI in early December.
The Bengal men won two games at the United Insurance Can-Am Classic in Fort
Kent, but went on an eight-game skid during a week-long winter break trip to Virginia and Washington D.C., as well as a trip to the USCAA MLK Jr. Classic in Montreal, Canada.
UMFK snapped its losing streak by beating Virginia-Lynchburg at home in February, aveng- ing an earlier loss to them in Virginia. The men followed that win by downing rival UMPI in February in front of the home crowd in Fort Kent. The Bengals suffered four road losses to close out the season.
The Bengals ranked second in the USCAA in free throw percentage and were fifth in three-point percentage. They played nine games versus nationally-ranked teams, including a NCAA Division I school.
Women’s Basketball Recap
The UMFK women’s basketball team earned
a trip to the 2014 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Championships. Unfortunately, the sixth-seed- ed Lady Bengals came up short in the opening round, losing to the third-seed Robert Morris University-Springfield (Illinois), 84 to 64.
This season was a roller-coaster ride for the team’s players and coaches. The team began the season at 2-2, but returned home in early December 5, where it welcomed back senior co-captain, Jenn Colpitts (Scarborough, Maine), from a season-ending knee injury sustained at last year’s national tournament.
Colpitts, who entered this season three points shy of 1,000 for her career, reached
the milestone with a slashing lay-up midway through the first half in the big home win (see related story on page 14).
UMFK dropped a tough road game to county rival University of Maine at Presque Isle the following week, but responded in a big way by defeating USCAA Top 10-ranked Apprentice (Virginia) at home to close out the first half of the season.
The second half of the season opened with two wins at the United Insurance Can-Am Classic in Fort Kent, followed by a huge road win against another USCAA-ranked team, Briarcliffe (New York). The Lady Bengals would go on to lose two hard-fought games against USCAA-ranked Rochester College (Michigan) at a neutral site in Montreal.
Coach Brad Holabird’s squad closed
the regular season in style with four straight wins, including senior day victory when Taylor Boucher (Fort Kent, Maine) and Colpitts
led the team past Fisher College (Boston, Massachusetts), avenging an early season loss.
The Lady Bengals finished the regular season ranked second in the USCAA in field goal percentage, third in three-point shot per- centage, fifth in assists per game (15.5), and seventh in field goals per game (25).
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Volleyball Team Shines
The women’s volleyball program returned as a varsity sport in the fall of 2013 following
a one-year hiatus. UMFK returned to action with a 3-0 win against Unity College.
The team went on to win its first eight matches
before falling to NCAA Division 3 Maine
Maritime Academy in late September. The
women bounced back with a double-match
win against University of Maine at Presque Isle and University of Maine at Machias, in Machias, early in October.
After returning from a disappointing road trip to take on SUNY-Canton, where they dropped two matches to the Roos, the Lady Bengals bounced back, defeating UMPI in a double-match sweep to finish the regular season at an impressive 13-3 record.
The team ranked 14th in the final USCAA coaches poll, and narrowly missed an invitation to the national tournament.
UMFK Recruiting Coordinator, Lucas Levesque, landed the first recruit for the Class of 2013, Jessany Munoz from Yreka, California, who transferred to UMFK following a two-year stint at Shasta College, a junior college in Redding, California.
Quintina Young was named the women’s volleyball head coach last March. Young, a native of Portland, Maine, and a 2013 alumna of UMFK, started her coaching career as assis- tant coach for the Lady Bengals basketball team the last two seasons.
Coach Young landed five additional junior college transfers from California in Jasmin Rowland (Salinas, California / Monterey Peninsula), Jessekah Mccorkle (Chico, California
/ Shasta College), Anna Peabody (Boulder Creek, California / Foothill), Skyler Olsen (Kekeyville, California / Santa Rosa) and Danielle Carrillo (Mendota, California / Porterville College). Each player brought experience and skills to the team.