BANGOR- Anne Simon led all scorers with 21 points on Sunday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears rallied from 19 down in the first half to defeat the Dartmouth Big Green 65-53 in non-conference women’s basketball at the Cross Insurance Center.
Maine (3-7) started out poorly from the floor hitting just 1-14 in the first quarter as Dartmouth jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led 16-3 after the opening 10 minutes. A three-pointer by Carrington Washburn would extend the advantage by the Big Green to the biggest of the day at 25-6 with 5:44 left in the first half. The guests led 30-17 at the halftime break. The Black Bears came alive in the second half and would slice the margin to six in the third quarter, using some full court trapping defense that would force Dartmouth into some turnovers. It was an eight point deficit entering the fourth. A 9-0 Maine run to start the final period gave them their first lead of the day 46-45, sparked by a Simon driving layup, a three-pointer by Caroline Bornemann, and layups by Abbe Laurence and Simon. After the Big Green regained a two point lead twice, Maeve Carroll made a move in the paint for a basket that put the Black Bears ahead to stay 54-52 with 4:31 left. Maine hit 8-12 at the line down the stretch outscoring Dartmouth 48-23 in the second half (28-8 in fourth) to end a four game losing streak.
Simon added 11 rebounds and six steals to her game high point total. Alba Orois had 17 points, three rebounds, and six assists and also had no turnovers. Bornemann had a career high with 15 points and four rebounds. She hit 3-4 from three-point range after not having any (0-12) entering Sunday. Carroll finished with eight points, 11 rebounds, and four assists. After the slow start with 23% shooting in the first half, Maine shot 16-29 (55%) in the second half and also knocked down 6-11 from long distance in the second 20 minutes to complete the comeback. Mekkena Boyd and Washburn had 14 points a piece in the loss for 1-11 Dartmouth. Boyd had eight rebounds, and Washburn had six. The Black Bears will play their final non-conference game of the season when they host Northeastern at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday afternoon at 1 p.m.
