Caroline Bornemann had a game high and career high 21 points on Saturday afternoon, leading the Maine Black Bears to a 63-49 victory over the Hartford Hawks in a America East women’s basketball quarterfinal played at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono.
Maine would use an 8-0 run to jump out to a 10-3 first quarter lead on a three-pointer by Alba Orois. The Black Bears would have a 15-12 advantage after the opening 10 minutes. The hosts built their biggest lead of the first half at 27-16 on a Bornemann three-pointer with 5:36 left in the second. The pesky Hawks from Hartford though hung tough, ending the quarter on a 10-2 run capped off by a three-pointer by Carmen Villalobos to slice the deficit to 29-26 at halftime. Maine built their lead back to 10 on a fastbreak layup by Anne Simon with just over two minutes left in the third, but another late three-pointer by Hartford from Brianna Williams had the Hawks hanging around at 49-43 headed to the fourth quarter. The Black Bears finally put it away outscoring Hartford 14-6 in the final 10 minutes, going up by as many as 16, in winning their 13th consecutive game and advancing to the America East semifinals.
Along with the game high from Bornemann, Maine (19-10) was led by Simon who had a double double with 17 points and 12 rebounds and her 21st straight game hitting double figures. Maeve Carroll also added 14 points and seven rebounds. Villalobos finished with 13 points and nine rebounds for Hartford, while Paula Maurina had 10 points and six rebounds. The Hawks end their season at 4-26. Top seed Maine will now host New Jersey Institute of Technology in the America East semifinals on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Pit. #4 NJIT (15-14) advanced with a quarterfinal win over UMass-Lowell on Saturday. The Black Bears and Highlanders split their regular season series, with NJIT winning in Bangor 67-59 in overtime back on January 2 and Maine winning on the road in New Jersey 77-43 on February 19.
