DeChent Scores Team-High 28 Points in AE Quarterfinal Loss at Maine

Thursday, March 5

Orono, Maine

6 PM

University of New Hampshire

10-20,4-12America East

Maine

18-12,12-4America East

New Hampshire

Maine

Photo by: Seth Poplaski

DeChent Scores Team-High 28 Points in AE Quarterfinal Loss at Maine

3/5/2026 9:22:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

ORONO, Maine – Junior guard Eva DeChent (Westchester, N.Y.) scored a team-high 28 points but the seventh-seeded University of New Hampshire women's basketball team was defeated 77-58 by second-seeded University of Maine in an Air Force Reserve 2026 America East Playoffs quarterfinal game Thursday night at Memorial Gym.

DeChent shot 9 of 14 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from 3-point range, and made eight free throws to finish with 28 points. She also had five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

Junior guard Maggie Cavanaugh (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) grabbed a team-high six rebounds and scored six points.

Maine was led by Adrianna Smith's double-double of 35 points and 15 rebounds. She also led all players in both assists (five) and steals (three).

UNH, which entered the game on a two-game winning streak, ends the season with a 10-20 overall record that included 4-12 in America East. Maine, which went 12-4 in the conference, advances to the semifinals with an 18-12 record.

FIRST QUARTER

Sarah Talon hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and the Black Bears led wire-to-wire, although the lead was never more than five points in the first quarter.
Baskets by Elizabeth Lavoie (Hampstead, N.H.) and Lucia Melero Sabat (Barcelona, Spain) lifted UNH within a point, 3-2 and 5-4, respectively.
Maine inched out to an 11-6 lead at 7:28.
The Wildcats went on a 5-1 spurt on a 3-pointer by DeChent at 6:29 and two free throws by the junior guard at 5:32 to once again lift UNH within a point, 12-11.

With the Wildcats trailing 18-13, DeChent swatted a tip-in into the basket with 42 seconds on the clock and Camryn Fauria (North Attleborough, Mass.) beat the buzzer with a layup to close the margin to 18-17 through 10 minutes.

SECOND QUARTER

Maine outscored the 'Cats 28-13 in the second quarter to take a 46-30 lead into halftime.
The Black Bears took the first double-digit lead of the game, 29-19, at 7:04 and extended the advantage to 42-21 at 1:21.

Cavanaugh's 3-pointer from the right corner beat the clock to trim the deficit to 46-30.

THIRD QUARTER

Maine made the first two field goals of the second half to reestablish a 20-point advantage, 50-30.

The lead was extended to 27 points before Carolina Williams (Valatie, N.Y.) ended the third quarter with two foul shots to advance the score to 63-38.

FOURTH QUARTER

UNH outscored the hosts 20-14 in the fourth quarter.

The margin fluctuated between 23-25 points until 3:13, when Talon's three-point play made it 74-48, and then the lead changed between 24-26 points until UNH went on a 6-0 run the last 96 seconds of the game.

UNH NOTEBOOK

DeChent finishes the 2026 season with 543 points, which ranks No. 5 on UNH's list of single-season superlatives.
She made 140 free throws this season, which is No. 4 on the program's list.
DeChent now has 1,077 points as a Wildcat, which ranks 17^th on the program's all-time leaderboard.
Her 75 career 3-pointers ranks 19^th.
Cavanaugh has made 82 career 3-pointers, which ranks 17^th.
DeChent eclipsed 20 points in a game for the 12^th time this season and 22^nd career.

This was UNH's 40^th all-time appearance in the conference tournament.

GAME NOTEBOOK

Both teams pulled down 33 rebounds and scored 30 points in the paint.
UNH committed only 12 turnovers, but it was more than double the total of Maine's five.