BANGOR, Maine- The longest active women’s Division I basketball winning streak came to an end on Sunday afternoon, and it was at the hands of the Maine Black Bears. Maddy McVicar had a game high and career high 28 points, and Dor Saar knocked down a jumper late in overtime as Maine defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves 64-62 in America East action at the Cross Insurance Center before an energetic 2,093 fans on Senior Day.
The loss snaps a 22 game Stony Brook winning streak as the regular season America East champs dropped to 25-2, 13-1 in the conference but it wasn’t without a fight. A back and forth first quarter had both teams gaining a lead. The Black Bears led by two and Stony Brook had the biggest of three and the end of the first 10 minutes at 17-14. The Seawolves led by as many as four in the second quarter, and a three-pointer by Kaela Hiliare had the visitors up 24-21 at halftime.
Both teams again had a lead in the third quarter. With the score 39-38 Stony Brook late in the period, Anna Kahelin hit a three-pointer with three seconds left and Saar hit one to beat the buzzer and Maine led 44-39 headed to the fourth quarter. The Seawolves cut it to three with an India Pagan basket to open the fourth, but the Black Bears answered that with an 8-0 run that was highlighted by three-pointers from Saar and McVicar for the biggest lead of the game 52-41. Stony Brook though dug in defensively and ended regulation on a 14-3 run sending the game to overtime on two 1-2 efforts from the line by Cheyenne Clark five seconds apart in the last 15 seconds. Anne Simon had a chance to win the game for Maine taking the final shot in the closing seconds, but couldn’t get it to go in the lane as the buzzer sounded sending the game to overtime.
There were four lead changes in the extra session, where McVicar scored seven of the Black Bears nine points. Hiliare hit a three-pointer for the last lead with 2:38 left for Stony Brook, before McVicar hit a three to give Maine back the lead they wouldn’t give back at 62-60 with 1:39 to go. Saar hit a jumper to make it a four point game with 40 seconds showing on the clock, before Pagan answered four seconds later to cut it to just two. Saar missed a jumper in the paint with five seconds left, but got her own rebound and ran out the clock to end it.
McVicar added six rebounds to go with her career high point total in the Maine win, also hitting six 3-pointers. Simon and Maeve Carroll both had double doubles. Simon had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Carroll had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Saar added eight points, five rebounds, and six assists. Pagan had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Stony Brook. Hiliare finished with 14 points. Hailey Zeise added 10 points, and Clark had eight points and 12 rebounds. The Black Bears hit 10 three-pointers in the game (10-27), while the Seawolves only had four (4-11). Maine, who has now won six games in a row, will visit UNH to battle the Wildcats Wednesday night at 6 p.m. The Black Bears are now 14-14, 10-4 in the conference and currently in sole possession of second place in America East.
Maine guard Maddy McVicar (in pink) raises up to shoot a three-pointer in a game earlier this season in Bangor. McVicar had 28 points on Sunday to lead the Black Bears to an overtime victory over Stony Brook. Photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
