Four players scored in double figures on Wednesday night, led by 15 points from Alba Orois as the Maine Black Bears pulled away for a 65-44 win over the Hartford Hawks at Chase Arena in West Hartford, Connecticut in women’s America East basketball action. The game was played without fans in attendance due to COVID concerns at Hartford.
Hartford led 1-0 and that was their only lead of the night as Maine (5-8, 2-1 America East) broke open a close first quarter with the help of Anne Simon. Leading 10-9, she led an 18-5 Black Bears run to extend the lead to 28-14 after the opening 10 minutes. Simon had 11 points in the opening period with eight of them during the run. 16% shooting by the guests in the second quarter let Hartford creep back into the game. After falling down by 19, the Hawks were able to slice into the deficit and cut it to 35-23 at halftime. Hartford got within nine almost four minutes into the third on a driving layup by Jada Lucas, but that is as close as they’d get as Maine ended the quarter on a 16-5 spurt to take a 52-32 advantage to the fourth. The run went to 23-5 as the Bears scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter for their biggest lead of 27. The hosts were only able to get back within 21 the rest of the way, as Hartford remains winless at 0-13 and 0-2 in America East.
Orois added six rebounds, four assists, and two steals to her game high point total. Simon and Caroline Bornemann had 13 points a piece. Simon had six rebounds, six assists, and three steals while Bornemann had seven rebounds. Maeve Caroll also filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Paula Maurina had 11 points and Carmen Villalobos had 10 in the loss for Hartford. Next up for Maine is a home game at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor as they battle preseason conference favorite and defending champion Stony Brook.
