WATERVILLE, Maine – Maine Maritime Academy women's basketball cruised to an 80-58 victory against Thomas College on Tuesday night in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action inside of Mahaney Gymnasium. 

With the victory the Mariners improve to 10-6 overall and 6-4 in the conference, while the Terriers drop to 8-9 on the season and 5-5 in the NAC. Maine Maritime returns to action on Friday night when they host Green Mountain College at 5:30 pm. 

The Terriers jumped out to a 5-0 lead but Melinda Ogden (Searsport, Maine) hit a three to bring the Mariners within two (5-3), and Mikayla Charters (Newport, Maine) made a layup to give the Mariners a 6-5 lead. The Terriers responded on the other end and took a 7-5 edge.

After exchanging baskets, Thomas College hit another three to take a 12-7 lead. Alayne Felix (Mahopac, N.Y.) drew a foul and hit a pair from the line to close the gap to 12-9. Minutes later after stealing the ball and drawing the foul, Felix made two more from the line to close the gap to 12-11.

The Mariners went on an 8-2 run to take a 19-14 lead with just over two minutes to go and took a 23-17 lead into the second quarter.

The Mariners outscored the Terriers 11-4 to start the second quarter and took a 34-21 lead following a steal and a three-pointer by Eryn Doiron (Wilton, Maine). Charters added a layup to stretch the lead to 15, and the Mariners outscored the Terriers 5-2 to close out the quarter and took a 41-23 lead into halftime. 

Felix led the Mariners in the first half with nine points, while both Morgan Boudreau (Benton, Maine) and Chloe Smedley (York, Maine) chipped in with eight points. Molly Carroll led the Terriers with seven points in the first half.

Maine Maritime scored 10-unanswered points to open up the third quarter, but the Terriers responded with back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 53-29. Odgen drained a three and drew a foul giving the Mariners a 57-29 lead following the successful four-point play and Smedley hit a jumper to extend the lead to 30 points at 3:30. The Mariners took a 62-36 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back claiming the 80-58 victory.

Smedley led the Mariners with 15 points, five rebounds, one steal and one block, while Felix ended the evening with 13 points, nine rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block and Ogden chipped in with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Carroll and Karli Stubbs led Thomas with 11 points each. Carroll added two rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Stubbs had three rebounds and an assist, while Nikki Bradstreet contributed 10 points, a rebound, an assist, and a steal.

The Mariners shot 42.9 percent from the floor while the Terriers shot 34.5 percent. Maine Maritime held a 41-39 edge in rebounds.