FARMINGTON — Too many shooters. Too many tall bodies and long arms.

Nationally-ranked Colby College made Tuesday night’s game at Dearborn Gymnasium look like it was six-on-five, at times.

Textbook ball movement led to wide-open 3-pointers. Offensive rebounds fostered second-chance baskets without a set of flailing University of Maine at Farmington hands in sight.

The end result was an 80-37 women’s basketball rout for the Mules under first-year coach Julie Veilleux, the former University of Maine star and Bowdoin and Navy assistant.

“We’re just working on getting better every practice and in games,” Veilleux said.

Mission accomplished on this evening.

Rachael Mack led four players in double figures for Colby (3-0) with 16 points. Jill Vaughan added 13 points.

The 6-foot-2 Mack and the 6-foot-3 Vaughan, both seniors, combined for 14 rebounds. All six of Mack’s caroms came from the offensive glass.

“With our height advantage it’s kind of a no-brainer when you have those people down low, trying to take advantage of that,” Veilleux said. “I think we did a good job.”

Colby can shoot, also.

Mack, Diana Manduca, Aarika Ritchie, Jacky McLaughlin and Jen Nale each rained down a pair of 3-pointers. The Mules were 11-for-20 from beyond the arc.

Lindsay Ranquist and Emily Higgins scored eight points apiece to lead UMF (1-3).

Junior starter Kenni Norton of Strong remains out of the lineup due to injury for the Beavers.

The Mules put it out of reach early with a 26-8 surge in the first 10 minutes.

Farmington’s Paige Graffam drained a short jumper in the paint for the first points of the game.

Ritchie answered with an uncontested 3-pointer from in front of the UMF bench, and the Mules never trailed again.

Working outside-in, Colby connected on 9 of its first 14 shots. McLaughlin drained two 3-pointers during the early run. Nale and Jayde Bennett also struck from just inside the stripe.

There were no answers down low, either. Mack, of Augusta, cashed in her four offensive rebounds in the half with a second-chance basket and 4-for-4 at the line.

Mack’s 3-pointer from up and her fast break bucket — both courtesy of Ritchie, each in a 36-second span — mounted the Mules’ largest lead of the half, 33-12, with 5:56 left.

Ritchie finished with seven assists.

“I think we had the ball movement. An impressive statistic was our 26 assists,” Veilleux said. “When I saw that, I said, ‘Nice.’ We were moving it and looking for each other and looking for good shots.”

UMF rallied with 10 unanswered points, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Emma Morrison and Ranquist. The Beavers then turned it over with a chance to get it down to single digits.

Nale’s 3-pointer and two Mack free throws put Colby back in control and accounted for a 38-22 halftime advantage.

“Our big focus was trying to put as close to 40 minutes as we can,” Veilleux said. “There was a spurt toward the end of the first half where we weren’t executing very well. We had eight turnovers in the first half, a lot due I think to decisions we were making. Once we cleaned that up it took care of itself.”

Mack and Manduca hit 3-pointers out of the half, extending Colby’s second substantial run to 11-0.

Twenty turnovers troubled the Beavers. Colby owned a 40-20 advantage in rebounds.

Nale and Kelly Potvin added 10 points each for Colby.

UMF continues its season-opening, seven-game homestand after the holiday break against Bates on Nov. 30, Castleton on Dec. 2 and Green Mountain on Dec. 3.

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