BANGOR, Me- Blanca Millan scored 20 points and Julie Brosseau added 19 more Wednesday night, as the University of Maine womens basketball team opened up their America East conference schedule with a hard fought 64-56 win over Stony Brook before 1,103 fans at the Cross Insurance Center.
It was a tight first half where both teams held leads. Maine (8-6, 1-0) started the game up 8-2, before Stony Brook rallied and tied the game at 11 and at 14 at the end of first quarter. The Seawolves led by three points on three different occasions in the second quarter. Maine tied it when Parise Rossignol banked in a three pointer at the buzzer to make it 25-25 at the half.
The Bears began the second half on a 5-0 run, and upped it to six later in the third when Tanesha Sutton found a streaking Fanny Wadling down the lane to make it 39-33. Maine took their biggest lead to that point later in the quarter, when Millan went back door for a layup making it 45-36. The visitors cut the lead down to 47-42 by the end of third quarter.
An unconventional three point play from Seawolves sophomore guard Gio Perez to open the fourth make it 47-45. Maine then responded with an 8-0 run on a jumper by Maeve Carroll, and back to back three pointers from Brosseau and Millan to make it 55-45. The closest the visitors were able to get from that point was six. Stony Brook had a chance to make it four with 28.5 seconds left, but Cheyenne Clark missed two free throws, and Rossignol sunk a pair from the charity stripe to secure the win. The Seawolves fall to 8-6, 0-1. Maine Head Coach Amy Vachon said, “It’s hard when Tanesha (Sutton) isn’t in the game, our team is just a different team, she just does so much for us. She didn’t play alot in that first half (foul trouble), we were stagnant at times. I really thought Stony Brook was playing harder than us in the first half. Not surprised at them playing harder, surprised at our effort. So that is something we talked about at halftime. In the second half, I definitely thought they brought it. We have so many kids that can score and do different things, it makes it hard on other teams to defend”.
Millan added seven rebounds for Maine. The Black Bears had 21 turnovers and shot 41 percent from the floor. Shania Johnson led Stony Brook with 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Perez added 11 points and four assists, while Clark also had 11 and seven rebounds. The Seawolves had 18 turnovers and shot 34 percent for the game.
Maine will host Binghamton Saturday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center, with tipoff slated for 1 p.m.
SBU 14 11 17 14- 56
UME 14 11 22 17- 64
