It was a festive atmosphere for the Wildcats in their season opener at Lundholm Gym on Monday night. (Photo courtesy of UNH Athletics)

DURHAM - Freshman Maggie Cavanaugh and freshman Sharmela Reid scored their first UNH career points in University of New Hampshire’s 73-39 victory against the University of New England on Monday night.

Junior guard Clara Gomez (Sabadell, Spain) scored the first point of the game and UNH led the rest of the quarter.

Senior Belen Morales Lopez (Bellreguard, Spain) took the first free throw, putting the cats up 9-4 at the seven minute mark.

Gomez made the first three-point shot of the game, as the ‘Cats remained in the lead. With 52 seconds left, freshman forward Sharmela Reid (Montreal, Quebec) scored her first UNH career point with a foul shot, bringing the ‘Cats to a 25-10 lead. They led 27-10 after one, and were up 39-22 at the half and 51-26 after three.

UNH finished with the lead in both field goal percentage (39.1% to 30.2%) and three-point field goal percentage (33.3% to 21.4%). UNH led with a higher free throw percentage (80% to 62.5%) and outrebounded UNE 41-34.

The Wildcats return to action Friday for a 5 p.m game against the Boston University Terriors at the Case Gymnasium in Boston.