College roundup: CMCC’s Ella Lavigne named first-team All-American

Central Maine Community College’s Ella Lavigne, right, and Hazel Hernandez (4) team up to trap Paul Smith’s Abbey Bateman during a December game in Auburn. Lavigne, a freshman, has been named top the USCAA Division II All-American First Team. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Central Maine Community College freshman Ella Lavigne has been named first-team Division II All-American in women’s basketball by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

Lavigne, who scored 26 points in Monday’s USCAA women’s basketball quarterfinal victory, is averaging 18.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. The Mustangs’ national championship hopes were halted by Christendom in Tuesday’s semifinals.

Teammate Destiny Mora Lopez, a junior, received All-American honorable mention. Freshman Zoe Bedford won the 3-point shooting contest.

Rangeley graduate Winnie LaRochelle, a CMCC sophomore, was named the Student-Athlete of the Year in USCAA Division II, along with being selected to the Division II Academic All-American team.

Monmouth Academy graduate Kaeti Butterfield, who plays for UMaine-Augusta, also earned Academic All-America honors.

Southern Maine Community College’s Jay Hawkes, who played at Gray-New Gloucester and Poland in high school, is on the men’s Division II Academic All-American team.

The Yankee Small College Conference announced it all-conference honors earlier this month, and, curiously, Lavigne was only the second team, along with Mora Lopez. CMCC’s Chantel Ouellette, a former Edward Little standout, earned honorable mention.

UMaine-Augusta’s Sage Fortin, who played a couple of years at Winthrop High School before transferring to Cony, also is on the YSCC women’s basketball second team. Her teammate, Alisyn Alley, was named player of the year, and their coach, Heath Cowan, is the coach of the year.

Central Maine CC’s Boston Caldwell was selected for the YSCC men’s basketball first team.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE
NEC 18, UMF 10: The Pilgrims (1-2) kept a consistent lead over the Beavers (2-1) and secured a non-conference win in Henniker, New Hampshire.

New England College’s Nathalie Antigua scored a game-high five goals, four of which were unassisted. Cassie Kelly added four goals for NEC, which began to pull away by scoring four straight goals in the third quarter, turning a tie game into an 11-7 lead.

Other goal scorers for the Pilgrims included Meadow Gilchrist and Jacqueline Nee with three apiece, Mackenzie McDonald with two and Alexis Hornsby with one goal.

Ruby McMinis tallied four goals for the University of Maine at Farmington. Abby Trefsger and Emilie Crocker added two goals apiece and Oxford Hills graduate Ashlee Farrar, along with Lydia Eastman, each scored one for the Beavers.

Despite losing, UMF led with 18 draw controls, compared to NEC’s 14.

BASEBALL
SALEM STATE 3, UMF 2: The Vikings (2-3) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to overtake the Beavers (1-6) in Davenport, Florida.

Salem State’s Mark Smith tied the game in the ninth with a homer to right field, and Yabdriel Gonzalez singled home Edward Field for the winning run.

UMF scored its two runs in the fourth inning, one by Oxford Hills grad Jonny Pruett and one by Ryan Sargent.

Jake Boucher was the winning pitcher for Salem State, pitching for three innings and collecting two strikeouts.

UMF 17, PRINCIPIA 11: A five-run fifth inning helped the Beavers (2-6) overpower the Panthers (5-6) in Davenport, Florida.

UMaine-Farmington trailed 6-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Beavers plated three runs in the frame and then then took a 9-6 lead after their big fifth inning. They steadily increased their lead over the next three innings, adding three runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and three runs in the eighth.

Mt. Blue grad Ike Wrigley, who had a triple, drove in four runs for UMF, while Ryan Sargent, Monmouth grad Matt Marquis and Colby Lewis each had two RBIs. Coombs and Marquis tallied a team-best three hits each, while Wrigley and fellow Mt. Blue grad Jayden Meader had two apiece. Coombs also scored four runs, as did Sam Parsell, and Marquis and Lewis scored three times each.

Gavin Matchell homered, tripled and drove in four runs for Principia.

SOFTBALL
BRANDYWINE 12, CMCC 0: Penn State Brandywine scored eight runs in the first inning, jump-starting a five-inning shutout over the Mustangs (4-9) in Aston, Pennsylvania.

Three Nittany Lions (7-3) pitchers — Crystal Cassario, Isabella Hurta and Jackie Capers — combined to hold Central Maine Community College hitless.

Brandywine tallied 11 hits, led by two apiece from Lexi Bussenger and Becky Valente. Payton Landis, Crystal Cassario and Sam Gonchar each had a double. Gonchar also drove in two runs.