By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

GORHAM – They almost couldn’t have asked for a better start Friday night – unless, of course, it lasted a little longer.

For the first few minutes of the basketball game, it was like the University of Maine at Farmington’s women’s basketball team could do no wrong.

UMF roared out to a 14-point lead in the first seven minutes of play in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

That success was only temporary though. Norwich battled back and was within two points by the half. The Cadets continued to cruise from there in a 76-53 victory at Warren G. Hill Gymnasium in Gorham.

“Once we scored that many points in such a short amount of time, it was definitely a positive,” said UMF coach Jamie Beaudoin. “But, we knew they were going to be able to string some stops together.”

Norwich advances to Saturday’s 7 p.m. second round game against host Southern Maine. It’s the first NCAA tourney win ever for the Cadets, whose coach Steve Lanpher was anxiously awaiting his second child.

“It’s been a fun nerve-wracking experience, ” said Lanpher, whose wife was due with their second son a week ago. “He’s a gamer. I just told him to wait until Sunday.”

While the Cadets (24-4) struggled offensively in the early going Friday, the Beavers (24-5) mixed some inside play with its sharp-shooting to race out to the early lead. UMF couldn’t maintain that efficiency and couldn’t halt the Cadets rally midway through the first half.

In the second half, the Beavers couldn’t find the fluid offense again. UMF was plagued by turnovers and missed shots. Norwich controlled the paint and the boards, limiting the Beavers opportunities.

“We worked really hard defensively,” said Beaudoin, whose team shot just 33 percent in the second half while Norwich was over 50 percent.. “I think offensively, it winded us and forced us to take some shots and getting to the offensively glass was quite limited.”

Norwich got 18 points and nine rebounds from Sarah Chap while Kayleigh Shappy added 15 points. Allison Flynn and Caribou’s Monica Selander were in double figures with 14 and 10 points respectively.

UMF was led by Kari Simpson with 23 points. Karen Sirois had 15 while Melissa Sawyer added 12.

Norwich scored 30 points in the paint while UMF managed just 14, that included an advantage in second chance points of 18-4.

“We need to put a little more pressure on their backcourt and make the entry pass to Chap a little more difficult,” said Beaudoin.

After trading the lead early in the second half, Norwich took the lead for good with a jumper from Selander. It kick-started nine straight points for the Cadets that made it 53-45.

UMF got within 57-54 on free throws from Sawyer with 7:19 left, but the Beavers went over four minutes without a basket as scores by Chap and Kristi Powlovich helped bolster the lead. A basket by Sawyer made it 64-58 with 2:31 left and a 3-pointer from Simpson got UMF within 68-61, but the Beaver defense couldn’t stop Norwich down the stretch.

“We’ve got some good size,” said Lanpher, whose team has won 12 straight. “I thought if we controlled the tempo, which I thought we did, if we made them play defense for 20 to 25 seconds, we’d get good shots in the paint.”