By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer
On a USM team with five starters who could be headline performers, Ashley Marble’s star shines brightest.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Blocking out distractions is nothing new for Ashley Marble.

In scoring the basket that punched the University of Southern Maine’s ticket to its second straight NCAA Division III women’s basketball Final Four, however, Marble took tunnel vision to a new stratosphere.

On perhaps the most important possession of Marble’s career, with the ball hovering dangerously in midair, USM’s 5-foot-9 center by default did what comes so naturally to her.

She jumped. High. Marble won the inevitable collision with a Bowdoin defender, who flopped to the floor as if she’d been leveled by a 290-pound NFL defensive end instead of a slender, smiling assassin wearing a scrunchie, knee-high socks and ankle braces.

To the delight of Southern Maine’s side of a bipartisan crowd topping 2,000, Marble added the formality of an uncontested lay-up, reclaiming the lead for good in the final 90 seconds of a 56-53 victory.

Did we mention that a foul would have been Marble’s fifth, and last? Or that if a trip to today’s national semifinal depended upon Marble knowing the score at the time of her heroics, USM’s uniforms would be in cold storage?

“I didn’t think we were down,” Marble said. “I didn’t know what the score was. It’s a good thing, because if I had known, I probably would have missed it.”

Not likely. On a Southern Maine team with five starters who could be the headline performer for most D3 teams, Marble’s star shines brightest.

No rest for the defense

Only a junior in basketball terms after one season of college volleyball at the University of Maine, Marble was her state and conference Player of the Year and a Kodak/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America finalist. Marble led the Huskies with 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game during the regular season.

In four tournament games, that production has ascended through the roof to 23.5 points and 10.5 boards.

“She’s just aggressive and very hard to guard,” said Bridgewater (Va.) College coach Jean Willi, whose Eagles lost to the Huskies, 68-55, in the Round of 16. “We tried to bring weak-side help. But when you do that, she just kicks it out to 33 (Megan Myles) or 30 (Katie Frost) and they drain a wide-open 3-pointer.”

Marble connects at a team-high 54 percent from the field. Foul her, and she makes three of every four free throws. Somehow force her away from the paint and she’s a 45 percent 3-point shooter.

Combine Marble’s quickness with the pinpoint passing of Myles, Frost, Donna Cowing and Katie Sibley and you get a player who is almost impossible for a traditional low-post pivot to guard.

“When you look at a game where there are 24 field goals and we had 20 assists, that’s a pretty good percentage,” said USM coach Gary Fifield. “That’s pretty good ball movement.”

“I have some unbelievable passers who get me the ball in a place where I can score,” deflected Marble. “The passes Megan, Donna, Katie and Katie make are right to the spot.”

Bumps in the road

Marble grew up in the Washington County township of Topsfield, with a year-round population just over 200. She won five state championships as a multi-sport star at Woodland High School: two in basketball, three in volleyball.

Maine offered her a scholarship to play both sports in Orono. Only the volleyball invitation was a guaranteed full boat, and Marble reluctantly hung up her hoop aspirations and set sail.

In addition to sustaining a knee injury her freshman year, Marble missed the camaraderie and intense statewide appeal of women’s basketball.

Since Marble transferred to Southern Maine, joining former AAU hoop teammates Frost and Sibley, the Huskies are an astonishing 91-6.

Year three in Gorham hasn’t unfolded without turmoil. Marble’s grandfather died early in the school year. In December, her boyfriend, Chris Willard, was deployed to Iraq. Marble continues to maintain a 3.7 grade point average and could begin working on her Master’s Degree next year.

On the court, Marble’s only regret dates back to last March and a 66-60 semifinal loss to Millikin. She boldly predicts USM will purge that disappointment from the memory bank by beating Hardin-Simmons today and either Hope or Scranton tomorrow afternoon to claim the program’s first title.

“To win a national championship with the seniors we have, it would just be unbelievably special. We play for this. This is why we work so hard, and I don’t know, I just feel this is our year,” Marble said. “I believe we’re going to win it all. To fight back like we did (against Bowdoin), it shows what this team is made of.”