Uniontown, Pennsylvania- The Lady Warriors faced off the Central Maine Community College today in the opening round of the USCAA National Tournament. The Lady Warriors defeated the Mustangs 79-39 to advance to round two.

Danielle McCusker opened the scoring for Central Maine with a lay in, but was answered by Ka'imana Ka'aikala (Stanton, MI./ Lakeview) hitting a deep three for the early Lady Warrior advantage. The Mustangs of Central Maine came out attacking the hoop, getting two buckets in the paint early. Lexy Newsom (Rochester Hills, MI./ Adams) tied the game up though at the 16:42 mark going 1 for 2 at the free throw line. Ka'imana put the Lady Warriors on top with her second three of the first five minutes. Whitney Newsom, fresh off yesterday's three-point contest win, hit her first shot from beyond the arc in the corner to put Rochester College up 6. Sam Tomaschko (Romeo, MI./ Romeo) made her presence known defensively with 4 rebounds and a block in the first ten minutes of the half. Lexy Newsom (Rochester Hills, MI./ Adams) made a long two with 9:42 left in the half to open up a 9-point advantage for Rochester College. Ke'ala Ka'aikala (Stanton, MI./ Lakeview) gave the Lady Warriors their first double digit lead of the game at the 9:22 mark. Whitney Newsom continued her hot streak from deep, hitting her second three of the game to put Rochester College up 20-8. Ke'ala extended the Lady Warrior's advantage to 20 with 2:09 to go in the half. Rochester College took a 34-10 lead to half.

Ka'imana led all scorers at half with 8 points. She was 3-5 from the field. Whitney Newsom had 6 points, and went 2-3 from beyond the arc. Ke'ala added 6 points and 5 boards. Sam Tomaschko led the game with 7 rebounds.

McCusker and Maggie Sabine led the Mustangs with 4 points each. Sabine led the team with 5 rebounds. Kayla Ellis had a game high 3 steals at half. Central Maine went 0-6 from beyond the arc as a team.

Ka'aikala had the second half's first bucket, taking it coast to coast off a steal. Tomaschko got her first points of the game at the 18:28 mark off a Ka'imana missed free throw to put Rochester College up 28. Lexy Newsom shortly added 2 points of her own to extend the lead to 30. Tomaschko got fire early on in the half, scoring a quick 9 points. With 15 minutes to go in the game, Rochester College led 49-12. The Lady Warriors spent much of the second half at the free throw line, reaching the bonus with just over thirteen minutes left in the game. Jazzmone Russell (Hurricane, WV./ Hurricane) hit a baseline jumper from Erika Wasson (Romulus, MI./ Univ. Of Toledo) to put Rochester College up 36. McCusker led the Mustangs with 12 second-half points. With 5 minutes left in the game, Kari Burton extended the Lady Warriors advantage to 74-28.

Ka'imana led Rochester College with 15 points and had 5 rebounds. Sam Tomaschko had 11 points and a game high 16 rebounds. Ke'ala added 14 points, 8 of which were in the second-half.

McCusker led Central Maine with a game high 16 points and 7 rebounds. Sabine added 8 points and 7 boards.

Rochester College defeated the Mustangs 79-39 to move onto the second round. They play the winner of Robert Morris Springfield and Carlow. The Lady Warriors next game will be tomorrow, March 8, at 7:30 PM.

For stats from today's game, follow the link: http://theuscaa.com/sports/wbkb/boxscores/20120307_2itu.xml