Lowell, Massachusetts- Sigi Koizar scored a career high 32 points to help lead the University of Maine Women’s basketball team to a 73-46 America East victory over the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks at Costello Arena Thursday night.
Koizar added five rebounds and five assists and shot 13 for 20 from the field that included 5 for 7 from three point range. Sophie Weckstrom added 11 points and Mikaela Gustafsson added 10 as Maine won their eighth straight game. It was also the 20th victory of the season for the Black Bears, making it back to back years with at least 20 wins for the first time since the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons.
UMass-Lowell, now 4-20 overall and 1-11 in America East, turned the ball over 29 times compared to just eight for the Black Bears. Maine scored a 28-4 advantage on points off the turnovers and built a comfortable 11 point lead at halftime which was extended to as many as 21 in the third quarter. The Riverhawks made a run early in the final period to cut the lead down to 15 but Maine put together a 14-3 run and would extend the lead to as many as 27, which was the final margin of victory. This was the 12th opponent Maine has held under 50 points this season.
Nicole Hayner lead the Riverhawks with 15 points while Kayla Gibbs came off the bench to score 14 points and haul down 9 rebounds. UMass-Lowell will hit the road Sunday to battle UMBC at 1 p.m.
Maine, now 20-7 and 11-1 in America East, will now return home to battle the Albany Great Danes in a battle for first place at the Cross Insurance Center on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be shown live on ESPN 3.
Line score
UME 15 20 17 21- 73
UML 11 13 12 10- 46
