Ciera Hill scored late in the first half and Gaby Panagakos added an insurance goal with less than six minutes remaining as Southern Maine advanced to its first Little East Conference championship game in women’s soccer with a 2-0 win over Castleton (8-11-1) in Gorham.
Breanna Atwood made six saves for the top-seeded Huskies (16-3), who will host No. 2 Western Connecticut State on Saturday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE 2, MAINE 1: Abbi Maier’s goal with 4:35 remaining gave the second-seeded Wildcats (9-5-2) a win over the third-seeded Black Bears (9-3-5) in an America East semifinal in Durham, New Hampshire.
It was the second goal of the game for Maier, who opened the scoring midway through the first half. Maine’s Julie Lossius tied it late in the first half.
FIELD HOCKEY
SOUTHERN MAINE 3, KEENE STATE 2: The top-seeded Huskies (15-7) got goals from Mary Keef, Hannah Banks and Izzy Hurlburt as they ended Keene State’s run of 10 consecutive appearances in the Little East Conference championship game by defeating the fourth-seeded Owls (11-10) in a semifinal at Gorham.
Banks broke a 1-1 tie early in the second quarter, assisted by Hurlburt, who made it 3-1 when she scored with 8:46 remaining.
The Huskies held on from there despite a late goal for the Owls.
USM, seeking just its second conference title and its first since 2003, will play at home Saturday against No. 3 seed Castleton.
UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 1, ROGER WILLIAMS 0: Madi Robito scored 3:25 into the game and the Nor’easters (10-9) didn’t allow a single shot as they advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game by defeating the Hawks (12-8) in Biddeford.
UNE, the No. 1 seed, will host second-seeded Endicott on Saturday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
LOUISVILLE: An independent panel placed the Cardinals on two years of probation and fined it $5,000, but spared the school major penalties from NCAA allegations leveled in the aftermath of a federal investigation into corruption in college basketball.
The Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) also declined on Thursday to penalize former Cardinals coach Rick Pitino, whom the NCAA initially cited for failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance. Chris Mack, Pitino’s successor who was fired in January, also was not penalized for additional allegations announced last year by the NCAA.
MEMPHIS: The Memphis Tigers will retire the No. 55 jersey of standout Lorenzen Wright during a future game .
Wright, who was slain in 2010, ranks 49th on the Tigers’ career scoring list with 1,026 points. He was All-Great Midwest first team in 1995 and All-Conference USA first team in 1996.
He led Memphis in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots during his two seasons and averaged 16 points and 10.3 rebounds. He had 31 double-doubles, the seventh-most in school history, as Memphis made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 1995.
Wright was taken No. 7 overall in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played 13 seasons in the NBA with five different teams, including the Memphis Grizzlies.
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