Bella Swan (pictured above) in a game against Clemson, helped lead the Maine Black Bears to a home conference victory on Saturday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Black Bear Athletics.
Bangor- The University of Maine Women’s basketball team got off to a slow start Saturday afternoon, but was able to overcome an early deficit to defeat visiting University of Maryland-Baltimore County 65-55 in their home conference opener in front of a crowd of 2,026 fans at the Cross Insurance Center.
Maine had trouble getting shots to fall early as UMBC built an early 13-4 lead in the first quarter, led by the play of guard Capree Garner who finished with a game high 25 points on 10-19 shooting. Garner scored 8 consecutive points that helped the Retrievers build that early 9 point lead. Two late three pointers by Sigi Koizar would close the lead to 3.
Maine would turn up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, Lauren Bodine knocked down a key three point shot and Bella Swan, who had a career day, would convert on a conventional three point play and scored off a feed from Sigi Koizar off a Liz Wood steal to spark a 12-2 run that gave the Bears a 26-20 halftime advantage. “Not the prettiest game, but I thought we did some stuff defensively at times to help get the lead. It was just hard to get a flow, our shooting wasn’t very good or consistent”, said Maine head coach Richard Barron after the game.
Maine continued to turn up the pressure on the visiting Retrievers in the third quarter and would build a 12 point lead thanks to a pair of three pointers from both Bodine and Sophie Weckstrom.
The Bears build the lead to as many as 14 in the final period. UMBC would trim the lead down to 6 late but Maine put the game away by knocking down 10-11 foul shots down the stretch to help seal their 12th consecutive home victory. “Thought we came at them pretty hard and played pretty well. We have been resilient all year, but they make key plays at key times and that’s what they did tonight”, said UMBC head coach Phil Stern after the game.
Swan finished with a career high 16 points, 8 rebounds and also had 3 blocks, a steal and 2 assists. Bodine finished with 12 points, Liz Wood registered another double double with 10 points and a game high 15 rebounds. Koizar had 11 points and had 3 steals and 4 assists. Maine improves to 11-6 overall and now is 2-0 in America East.
UMBC, who drops to 10-6 and 1-2 in conference play, Garner had 3 steals and an assist to go along with her game high 25 points. Taylor McCarley had 11 points and 5 steals and Pandora Wilson also had 11 and 9 rebounds.
Maine returns to action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. when it will host UMass-Lowell. UMBC also plays Wednesday when it hosts Stony Brook at noon.
Box Score
UMBC (55)
Garner 10-5-25, McCarley 2-7-11, Wilson 5-1-11, Castaldo 2-1-6, Hagaman 1-0-2
Field goals 20-53 (37.7%) Three pointers: Wilson, Castaldo Foul shots 14-19 (73.7%)
Maine (65)
Swan 6-4-16, Bodine 3-3-12, Koizar 2-5-11, Wood 5-0-10, Gustafsson 4-0-8, Weckstrom 2-0-6, Charles 0-2-2
Field Goals: 22-61 (36.1%) Three pointers: Bodine 3, Koizar 2, Weckstrom 2 Foul Shots 14-18 (77.8%)
