Hogan leads ‘Cats to victory with double-double

Kelsey Hogan recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and career-high 11 rebounds to lead the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team to Saturday afternoon’s 86-63 America East victory against the University of Maine in the regular-season finale at Memorial Gym.

Maine, returning to action for the first time since Tuesday’s bus accident, ends the regular season at 4-24, 3-12.

New Hampshire will be the No. 5 seed at the 2013 America East Women’s Basketball Championship and tips off against fourth-seeded Stony Brook University in an 8 p.m. quarterfinal at the University at Albany’s SEFCU Arena.

Hogan shot 6-for-11 from the floor, including 3 of 5 3-pointers, and also finished with five assists and two steals to garner UNH’s America East Player of the Game. Cari Reed netted a team-high 18 points on the strength of four 3-pointers to climb to No. 17 on the program’s all-time points list (932); she also tallied six rebounds.

Stephanie Spoto tallied seven points and six rebounds while Kendall Martenet added four points and a career-high six rebounds. Victoria Duffey scored her first collegiate points when she drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner in the closing minutes; she also hit two free throws for a total of five points.

Four of the six Black Bears scored in double digits. Lauren Bodine hit four 3-pointers as part of her team-high 18 points. 

Maine held early leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-4, but then UNH scored 13 consecutive points to build a 17-6 lead at 13:05. Hogan ignited the spurt with a short jumper on the left side to tie the score, 6-6, at 16:44. Thirty seconds later, Ariel Gaston drilled a 3-pointer from the top-left wing to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game, 9-6. Morgan Frame then hit Gaston cutting on the left baseline for a layup at 15:42 and Elizabeth Belanger extended the advantage to 13-6 with a putback on the right blocks. Reed hit back-to-back jumpers to give the ‘Cats an 11-point lead.

The Black Bears clawed within 17-10 on field goals by Charles and Roberts, but the Wildcats responded with a 6-0 run to build its largest lead of the first half, 13 points, at 23-10. Spoto drilled a jumper from the right elbow, then Kaylee Kilpatrick made two shots from the left blocks.

Trailing 30-18 at 6:32, Maine went on an 11-5 run the next four minutes to trim the deficit to 35-29. UNH responded with a layup by Martenet and Reed 3-pointer to reestablish a double-digit lead of 40-29 with 1:25 remaining in the first half. The Black Bears closed the half on a 5-2 spurt to pull within 42-34.

Roberts opened the second-half scoring with a layup to lift the home team within 42-36, but the Wildcats answered with a 9-0 run in two minutes to extend the advantage to 51-36 at 17:20. Hogan’s 3-pointer from the right wing sparked the run, which also included two Frame putbacks sandwiched around Belanger’s pull-up jumper.

Maine battled back one more time. The Black Bears scored 10 of the next 12 points to reduce UNH’s lead to 53-46 at 13:27. New Hampshire responded with an 11-1 spurt the next four minutes to establish a 17-point lead of 64-47.

Roberts made a layup and 3-pointer to trim the margin to 12 points with 8:32 remaining, but Gaston’s three point play on UNH’s next possession quelled the comeback as the ‘Cats slowly pulled away to their largest lead of 24 points, 79-55, on Hogan’s third 3-pointer of the game at 3:40.