BANGOR, Maine- Dor Saar and Maeve Carroll both scored 21 points on Saturday evening, leading the Maine Black Bears to a 60-49 win over the Albany Great Danes in America East women’s basketball at the Cross Insurance Center.
Maine started off fast scoring the first eight points of the game. Albany got on the board for the first time on a free throw after nearly six minutes had gone by. The Great Danes didn’t hit their first field goal until the 3:35 mark when Helene Haegerstrand scored under the basket. The Black Bears led by as many as 10, and led 16-9 at the end of the first. Albany cut it to six early in the second quarter, before Maine built their biggest lead to that point 31-18 with the help of three 3-pointers from Saar. The hosts held a 35-25 lead at halftime.
The visitors quickly got two baskets in the post from Amanda Kantzy to start the third quarter to once again cut it to six. Maine (7-11, 3-1 America East) responded however when Saar and Kelly Fogarty each hit three-pointers, and then Carroll scored on consecutive possessions with the second being a conventional three point play to cap off an 11-0 run to increase the advantage to 46-29. The Bears led 50-33 headed to the fourth quarter. Saar said, “I came out with alot of confidence today, and the shots just fell and that helped me and the team”. Maddy McVicar opened the fourth with a three-pointer for the biggest lead 53-33, and Maine never led by less than 13 the rest of the way. Head coach Amy Vachon said, “I was really pleased. We came out right from the beginning and played well and got an early lead. I just think our team right now is playing really well offensively together. I think it took a while to learn our roles and where the shots are gonna come from with a whole new lineup, but I think everyone when they go on the court right now feels confident and can make shots and looks to attack. When you have five players that can score, we are hard to defend”. The two schools combined have won the last eight America East championships, Maine 2018 and 2019 and Albany 2012 through 2017.
Saar finished 7-13 from the floor (five 3-pointers), adding five rebounds, six assists and a steal in the Maine win. Carroll had a double double as she had 10 rebounds and also added three assists. Carroll becomes the first Black Bear since Abby Schrader in 2005 to register double doubles in three consecutive games. The junior forward shot 10-19 from the field. Anne Simon also played a solid game adding nine points and five rebounds, and McVicar had six points and five rebounds. The undersized Black Bears outrebounded the Great Danes 41-33. Haegarstrand led Albany (6-10, 2-1) with 10 points and four rebounds in the loss. Kantzy had eight points and nine rebounds, while Kyara Frames also added eight points and five rebounds. Albany head coach Colleen Mullen said, “Unfortunately we didn’t execute the game plan right from the start. But credit Maine for their size with how big we are and how small they are, they did an excellent job of doubling our post and making our catches high. And we also couldn’t trade two’s for three’s”. Maine is on the road on Wednesday with a trip to UMass-Lowell for an 11 a.m. tipoff. The Riverhawks are currently tied with Stony Brook for first place in America East, one game ahead of the Black Bears.
