The Darmouth Big Green put three players in double figures on Tuesday afternoon, holding the Maine Black Bears to just nine second half points en route to a 57-41 women’s non-conference basketball win at Leede Arena in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Maine (3-8) started out well. In the first half after trailing 9-5 early, the Black Bears led 13-10 after the first quarter and extended it to a seven point advantage early in the second part of a 12-1 run. A three-pointer from Annie McKenna pulled Darmouth (4-3) within 22-21, before two jumpers by Kira Barra, a three point play from Maeve Carroll, and a three-pointer from Anne Simon gave the Black Bears their largest lead 32-21 with the 10-0 run with 2:33 left. That is where the game changed. The Big Green outscored Maine 36-9 in the final 22:33 of action, including the last eight points before the half to cut it to 32-29.
A three-pointer by Anna Luce put the hosts up for good, as they scored the first five points of the second half and Maine went ice cold. The Bears shot just 3-26 from the field in the second half (11.5%) after shooting 12-23 (52.2%) in the first half. Maine only hit one shot in their last 19 attempts. The visitors scored only five points in the third and four in the fourth, falling for the fifth time in their last six games with the only win coming over Division III Husson.
Dor Saar had 10 points to lead the way for Maine. Simon added nine points and six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Carroll finished with eight points and six rebounds, and Barra had eight and five boards. The Bears shot 30.6% overall (15-49), including 3-18 from the three point arc and had 19 turnovers. McKenna had 18 points to lead Dartmouth. Luce had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Katie Douglas also added 10 points.
Next up Maine will host Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor at 6 p.m. The Phoenix have a win over nationally ranked #16 Syracuse back on 11/30, before suffering a close loss to #11 Depaul Saturday. This game is a rematch of a game played last year in Wisconsin with UWGB winning 70-39.
