The 1974-1975 women's basketball team, led by hall of fame member Pam Hennessey, made Maine Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women history by becoming the first non-branch of the State of Maine University system to win the MAIAW division A state championship, in-route to a program record - at the time - 15-2 overall mark.
The Braves began their quest to the state title by defeating the Saint Joseph's College of Maine Monks by the score of 97-16. The 81-point win, still stands as the largest margin of victory in the series with the Monks - at the time of their induction. From there, the team made the long road trip up interstate-95 to face the University of Maine at Presque Isle. The Owls would prove to be the first team to challenge the Braves. Having the home court advantage, UMPI pulled a small lead at half and would hang on for the 42-39 victory.
From this point on the Braves reeled off six consecutive victories over Colby College (55-40), Westbrook College (60-31), Bowdoin College (74-22) - the 52-point win, still stands as the largest margin of victory in the series with the Polar Bears at the time of their induction - University of Maine at Machias (80-55), Bates College (60-33), and Nasson College (72-19), before facing their all-time rival the University of Maine. The Black Bears were the second team and the last team to put the bite on the Braves as UMaine came away with the 67-56 victory inside Memorial Gym.
The turning point in the season came at the hands of the number one ranked team in the state, the University of Southern Maine (formerly University of Maine at Portland-Gorham). The Huskies fell to the up and rising Husson Braves, 51-40, inside Newman Gym, that started the season ending eight game winning streak and the end of any other team's chances for the state title.
Following the win over Southern Maine, the Braves won the Husson Women's Invitational Basketball tournament with victories over Nasson (91-34) and UMaine-Machias (78-38), which led into the victory of the year over the defending state champions, the University of Maine at Farmington, the only team to defeat Husson in 1973-1974. This was the game that Husson had no intentions of losing, the 66-50 decision over the Beavers proved that the 1974-1975 women's basketball team was one of the best teams in the state.
After a week's rest the squad traveled to Colby to close out the regular season with a 50-39 win over the Mules. All that laid ahead was the state championship.
The Braves defeated Colby, 63-45, in the first round, the UMaine-Presque Isle, 58-38, in the semifinals before knocking off a strong Southern Maine squad, 50-47, in the championship game.
During the tournament, the Braves not only destroyed the long-standing tradition of a branch of the State of Maine University system in winning the state title, but set every team and individual record for the tournament as well.
The team featured three Husson University Sports Hall of Fame members in Sue Skinner '76, who nearly averaged a double-double with 9.2 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game, co-captain Karen Leach '75 and Linda Deveau '77. They will now be joined by co-captain Karen Caputo, who led the team in scoring by averaging 14.0 points per game, Verna Eldridge '78, Nancy Springer '78, Linda Mathews '78, Barbara Leonard, Colleen Meenan, Ginny Trainor, Marie Deraspe '76, assistant coach Linda West '76 and manager Carmela Ariemma '76.
When the season concluded, the 1974-1975 team had established new program records for points (1,100), scoring average (64.7), scoring margin (26.1), wins (15), field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, free throws attempted and points scored in a single-game, while recording the fewest losses since the 1961 season. At the time of induction, the 1975 squad still holds the program record for the best single-season scoring margin.
