Photo: CMCC women’s basketball team receives send-off as it heads to Virginia to defend national title

Nikki Clarke, right, Jade Smedberg, Emily Strachan and Kali Thompson cut the cake at a send-off celebration Thursday at Central Maine Community College in Auburn. The Mustangs leave Friday morning for an 11-hour drive to Petersburg, Virginia, where they will be competing in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Tournament. The Mustangs have won the USCAA Division II national championship in 2022, 2019 and 2017 and were runners-up in 2020 and 2014. They also won the Yankee Small College Conference Championship six times in the past seven years. Tournament play begins Tuesday. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal