Blanca Millan had a career high 37 points on Friday afternoon as the University of Maine women’s basketball team opened their season with a 69-56 victory over the Delaware Blue Hens at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Delaware.
Maine (1-0) got off to a slow start by shooting 1 for their first 6 from the floor and falling behind 11-3 early. The Blue Hens led the entire opening quarter and held a 18-14 advantage after the opening 10 minutes. The Black Bears started the second on a 9-4 run to take their first lead 23-22 when Maeve Carroll scored a fast break layup. Maine took the lead back for good later on another Carroll layup. Millan had 20 points in the opening half and the visitors led by six at the break.
Maine extended the lead to 11 when Millan scored on a fast break layup with three seconds left in the third quarter. A Dor Saar shot in the paint gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 60-44 midway through the fourth quarter. Delaware (0-1) cut it to nine with about three minutes to go, but four free throws from Millan and a three-pointer by freshman Anne Simon for a 7-0 run over the next two minutes put it away.
Millan shot 11-19 from the floor and 13-15 from the line, also adding four rebounds and two steals to her game high in points. Simon was the only other Black Bear in double figures with 12 points and five rebounds. Maine shot 46% from the floor and also made 20-23 from the foul line. Jasmine Dickey had 16 points and 13 points for Delaware, while Kayla Shaw added 11 points.
Maine is on the road again on Monday night when they head to Providence, Rhode Island to battle Brown University at 7 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPN Plus or NESN.
