Bri Stiers and Denise Solis each had 12 points to lead four players in double figures on Wednesday morning/afternoon, to lead the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks to a 66-57 America East women’s basketball win over the Maine Black Bears at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts.
UMass-Lowell had an early 4-0 lead, before Maine went on a 15-4 run capped off by a Dor Saar layup that gave the Black Bears a 15-8 lead as they led 17-13 after the opening 10 minutes. Turnovers and cold shooting allowed the Riverhawks to take back the lead in the second quarter building to a 36-27 advantage at the break.
The hosts continued to lead in the third taking their biggest at 12 points, holding that nine point lead still as the game headed for the fourth quarter. Down 47-39, the Black Bears made one more run at it. Kelly Fogarty knocked down a three-pointer to make it 53-52 with 4:28 left to play part of a 13-6 spurt. Maines best post player Maeve Carroll though fouled out with 4:07 remaining. That is as close as the visitors would get as more turnovers and easy baskets down the stretch would lead UMass-Lowell to their first ever 5-0 conference start and their first ever win over Maine, now 1-12 all-time.
Maine, who drops to 7-12 and 3-2 in America East, were led by Anne Simon who had 15 points and seven rebounds. Maddy McVicar added 11 points and five rebounds. Saar added seven points, six rebounds, and four assists. Fogarty, Carroll, and Kiera Barra all contributed six points a piece. Carroll added five rebounds. The Black Bears committed 18 turnovers, four more than their season average. UMass-Lowell, now 9-9 overall and winners of nine of their last 11 games, also got eight rebounds from Stiers and 11 points each from Jaliena Sanchez and Kharis Idom. Sanchez had four rebounds, and Idom had five. The Black Bears are at Binghamton Saturday afternoon.
