The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams would face the University of Albany in America East games on Wednesday night. The women hosted the Great Danes in Orono, while the men were on the road at Albany.
At Memorial Gym (The Pit), the women’s team put all five starters in double figures led by 17 points each from Anne Simon and Alba Orois, to extend their win streak to six games with a 64-55 victory over Albany in what was a playoff atmosphere in Orono.
Albany (16-7, 9-3 America East) led the entire first quarter by as many as seven and 17-14 after the opening 10 minutes. Simon hit a jumper for her 1,000th career point almost three minutes into the second quarter to give Maine their first lead of the night 20-19. The Black Bears would lead by as many as five, before a 6-0 Great Danes run made it 27-26 in favor of the guests with 1:09 left. Another Simon jumper and a last second three-pointer by Orois though regained the lead for the hosts 31-27 at the break. Maine led the entire third quarter and held a slight 45-43 advantage headed to the fourth. A three-pointer by Fraja Werth and a jumper by Helene Haegerstrand gave Albany their final lead 50-49 with just under seven minutes to play. After a timeout, Caroline Bornemann knocked in a three-pointer to give the Bears the lead for good just 15 seconds later. Simon with under a minute to go would nail a three-pointer after a timeout as the shot clock was winding down from the left wing to make it 62-55 and put the game away. Maine improves to 12-10, 9-3 in conference play.
Orois added five rebounds and six assists to her 17 points in the win, while Simon had four assists. Simon became the 22nd player in women’s basketball history at the school to reach the 1,000 point plateau. Maeve Carroll, Paula Gallego, and Bornemann all had 10 points a piece. Carroll had five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Bornemann contributed five rebounds and two steals, and Gallego had three rebounds and a steal. Kayla Cooper led Albany in the loss with a team high 17 points, four rebounds, and two steals. Morgan Haney had 13 points and Haegerstrand chipped in 12 points, as the Great Danes had their five game winning streak snapped. Due to Stony Brook being ineligible for any playoff participation, Maine now at the moment is the #1 seed in America East with the head to head win over Albany. The Black Bears will face those Stony Brook Seawolves down on Long Island on Saturday at 2 p.m.
At SEFCU Arena in Albany, Maks Klanjscek had a game high 21 points to lead the Maine men’s team to their second conference victory of the season by a score of 73-63 over UAlbany to break a five game losing streak.
Albany only held one lead in the first half for a total of 50 seconds, as Maine shot almost 50% from the floor and also shot 50% from the three-point arc for a 29-28 halftime lead. The Great Danes started very strong in the second half, opening up a 10 point lead with a 14-3 run at 42-32 with 15:26 left. The Black Bears never wavered however, taking back the lead for good on a Vukasin Masic three-pointer part of an 18-7 run at 50-49 with 9:38 to go. The guests would pull away taking their largest lead 70-54 on a Stephane Ingo dunk just over seven minutes later. Maine is now 5-18 on the season, 2-10 in America East.
Klanjscek hit 5-5 from the three-point arc to help Maine to the win. As a team they shot 55.5% from the field on the night, and 13-22 from downtown (59.1%). Masic had 15 points and seven rebounds, while both Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish and Byron Ireland contributed 11 points a piece. Albany was led by Matt Cerruti who had 14 points. The Great Danes fall to 10-14, 6-6 in conference play. Maine will host Stony Brook on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
