Maeve Carroll had 26 points and 13 rebounds Saturday afternoon as the Maine Black Bears avenged a loss earlier in the season at home with a 66-54 win over the UMBC Retrievers in America East women’s action at the UMBC Events Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
Early on it looked as if the game would be a repeat of things that happened back on January 26 in Bangor when UMBC won 74-54. The Retrievers after an early five point Black Bears lead would end the first quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 17-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Maine used a 10-1 run to start the second though grabbing a 20-18 lead on two from the line by Anne Simon. A pair of three-pointers one by Kelly Fogarty and one by Maddy McVicar gave the visitors a 32-25 lead at the half.
Paula Rubio gave UMBC their last lead of the contest when she hit a three-pointer with 5:49 left in the third at 40-39. Maine regained the lead when Simon hit two more from the line 15 seconds later, and the Black Bears held a slight 50-46 advantage headed to the fourth quarter. Maine opened the lead to 10 when they began the final quarter on baskets from Simon, Dor Saar, and Carroll. UMBC never got closer than six after that. The 12 point margin of victory was the largest of the day by either team. The Black Bears finish the regular season with eight straight wins improving to 16-14 overall and a final 12-4 record in America East, good enough for second place.
Along with the game high from Carroll in the Maine win, Simon finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Saar added 10 points and six assists, while McVicar chipped in nine points. Lyric Swann led UMBC with 14 points in the loss. Janee’a Summers added 12, Rubio had 11, and Te’yJah Oliver chipped in 10 points. McVicar did a superb job on Oliver who went off for 25 points in the UMBC win in Bangor back in January. The Retrievers finish at 10-17, 6-10 in conference play. Maine will host #7 seed Vermont at the Cross Insurance Center Wednesday night in the America East quarterfinals at 7 p.m.
