The University of Maine men’s basketball team and women’s basketball team continued non-conference action on Tuesday night, as the men visited North Texas in search of their first win of the season, and the women hoped to build off a tough three point loss to #20 Duke last Thursday as they visited Wisconsin-Green Bay.
At Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home Phoenix of the Horizon League outscored Maine 46-21 in the second half, and rolled to a 70-39 women’s basketball victory.
Maine shot just under 30 percent from the floor in the game, but only trailed 24-18 at halftime before Wisconsin-Green Bay (2-2) took over in the second half to pick up their second straight win. Blanca Millan led Maine (2-2) with 11 points despite a tough night shooting (4-14). Tanesha Sutton added eight points, Maddy McVicar seven, and Dor Saar chipped in six for the Bears who was without starter Fanny Wadling who has a concussion and won’t be with the team on the five game road trip. Lyndsey Robson led the Phoenix with 18 points. Laken James had 12 points, and Frankie Wurtz added 11. Maine will participate in the Navy Classic this weekend in Maryland, and on day one Saturday will face North Carolina A&M State at 3:15 pm.
In Denton, Texas, Maine fell behind early and rallied late to force overtime, but ultimately fell 74-63 to the North Texas Mean Green in men’s basketball action.
North Texas (7-0) led by as many as 13 in the opening half, and led 35-23 at halftime. Despite being down 11 or 12 almost midway through second half, the vistiting Black Bears showed great fight led by Isaiah White. Down 51-42 with 9:24 left, Maine (0-5) ended the regulation on an 18-9 run to tie it. 11 of those points were scored by White including the shot to tie it and send the game to overtime with 0.9 seconds on the clock. White then gave the Bears their only lead of the night with two foul shots early in overtime, only to be matched on a pair from the charity stripe by Jorden Duffy. Maine then went cold, and the Mean Green finished the overtime on a 12-1 run to remain undefeated. White finished with 22 points on the night. Vilgot Larsson had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Andrew Fleming added 11 and Sergio El Darwich had 10 points. UNT was led by Zachary Simmons who had a game high 24 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Ryan Woolridge had 12 points, while DJ Draper had 11 and Michael Miller had 10 points. Maine heads to Connecticut to battle Quinnipiac Sunday afternoon at 2 pm.
