BIDDEFORD — The UNE women’s basketball team is now both happy and healthy.

This was evident during the Nor’easters’ 68-56 win over Salve Regina on Saturday, in the newly christened James A. Beaudry Gymnasium.

For the first time this season, UNE was at full strength. Former Biddeford High School standout Lauren Rousseau made her first appearance of the season since spraining her ankle before the first game of the year in early November.

“It was great, I just got cleared (on Friday),” Rousseau said. “I knew I was cleared but didn’t really know how much I was going to play. I’m pretty sure (UNE head coach Anthony Ewing) game me about as much as I could handle. Without playing for three weeks, I got out of shape pretty quick. It wasn’t even my ankle, I was just a little winded.”

Though Rousseau admitted to feeling rusty, she scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds.

Ewing said he is happy to finally have his team at full strength, even though the Nor’easters have managed to go 4-1.

“It’s nice to have options, have people play post and guard,” Ewing said. “It was good.”

Presented with a tough matchup against Salve forward Marissa Pendergast ”“ who scored a game-high 27 points ”“ the Nor’easters contained the rest of the Seahawks throughout the contest.

Helping, too, was the performance of UNE guard Kelley Paradis, who scored a team-high 24 points, and forward Beth Suggs, who scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half.

The Nor’easters jumped to a 13-6 lead after a 10-0 run early in the first half. The Seahawks responded with a 15-0 run, tying the game at 17-17 with 10 minutes left in the half. Salve took a 23-17 lead, but Margo Russell scored five of her 10 points late in the period, giving UNE a 31-27 lead at halftime.

Paradis said the Nor’easters needed better communication defensively going into the second half.

“There was no talking on defense, it was completely silent,” Paradis said. “I think that’s what got us most. When we’re talking on defense, we were up by 10, I think that’s what really did it for us.”

The Seahawks later tied the game at 40-40, but Paradis took over in the second half, scoring 17 points, including making two 3-pointers.

Suggs was also a force to be reckoned with in the post, grabbing six rebounds and scoring 12 points.

“It’s great because it’s hard to stop us (offensively), and it’s not just one person, you have to defend us all,” Paradis said.

Beyond Pendergast’s 27 points, the next high scorer for Salve was center Lindsay Shorey and guard Kaitlyn Birrell, who each scored nine points.

The Nor’easters will have yet another tough non-conference matchup on Tuesday night, when they travel to Waterville to play against Colby College. The Mules are 5-0 after beating Bowdoin 56-41 on Saturday. Bowdoin beat the Nor’easters on Nov. 22.

“(Colby) is a very good team, a veteran team,” Ewing said. “Their whole starting five has been through the wars, with the new post players, (Jil) Vaughan and (Rachael) Mack and (Aarika) Ritchie, are their bread and butter. They’re a tough matchup for anybody, and if you can’t at least get control of them a little bit, you’re not going to have much of a shot.”

Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: As mentioned above, the gym in the UNE Campus Center was officially named the James A. Beaudry Gymnasium during a dedication ceremony at halftime of the women’s basketball game. Beaudry is a former athletic director and coach for what was then St. Francis College.

Beaudry was an athletic director for 21 years at St. Francis, while also serving terms as coach of men’s basketball, men’s soccer, baseball and golf. He was part of the first-ever UNE Hall of Fame class in 2005, and was inducted by former Boston Celtic Togo Pallazzi.

More than 100 family, friends and former players attended the ceremony.

— Contact Staff Writer Dave Dyer at 282-1535, Ext. 323 or follow him on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.