NEW LONDON, N.H. – January 31, 2015 – The University of Maine-Farmington held on for a 61-57 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) victory over Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday afternoon.

UMF improves to 8-11 overall and 7-5 in the NAC. The Beavers will host Lyndon on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. tip. Colby-Sawyer falls to 11-8 overall and 8-4 in the conference. The Chargers travel to Maine Maritime on Friday for a game at 7:30 p.m.

The visitors scored 18 points in the paint and outrebounded the Chargers 23-14 to hold a 35-24 edge at the half. Colby-Sawyer sophomore Lexi Iannone (North Haven, Conn.) had 10 points to lead all players at the break. UMF shot 46.2 percent and held the Chargers to 27.6 percent.

UMF pushed its lead to 15 after a bucket from junior Meghan Smith (Boothbay, Maine) with 15:17 left to play. The Chargers clawed back over the next five minutes with a 14-3 run capped by a Morgan Fogg (Sanford, Maine) lay-in to pull within four at 48-44. Colby-Sawyer finally erased the deficit and tied the score at 57-57 after Iannone stole the ball and took it the distance for the game-tying layup with 2:02 on the clock.

Each team failed to break the tie in the next few possessions until senior Lindsay Ranquist (Owls Head, Maine) passed to an open Smith in the paint for the eventual game-winning layup. Ranquist iced the game with a pair of free throws with six seconds remaining to give the Beavers the 61-57 victory.

Smith recorded a double-double of 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and a game-high 15 boards. Ranquist ended the game with 11 points.

Colby-Sawyer was led by a 15-point effort from Lexi Iannone. Senior Kelsey Cahill (Cumberland, R.I.) recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds. She added four blocks and four steals. Cahill moved into fifth in career rebounds (823), fifth in blocks (121) and fifth in steals (229). She has joined Kelly Bryant '87 as the only two Chargers to have at least 1,000 points, 800 rebounds, 200 steals and 100 blocks in a career.