Adrianna Smith had a career high 34 points on Saturday afternoon, including 16 in the fourth quarter as the Maine Black Bears beat the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders 69-63 in America East women’s basketball action at the NJIT Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Maine never trailed in the game. The Black Bears held a slight 12-11 edge after one quarter, and early in the second leading just 19-16 the guests would end the first half on a 17-6 run capped off by a Caroline Bornemann three-pointer to take a 36-24 advantage to the halftime break. Maine would start the second half on a 7-0 run on two free throws by Smith, a traditional three-point play by Sera Hodgson, and then a jumper by Smith to give them their biggest lead of the day 43-24 with 7:13 left. NJIT (7-8, 2-1 in America East) would then make a big push and a comeback attempt. The Highlanders ended the third period on a 17-3 spurt finished off by two free throws with no time left by Kenna Squier to slice it 46-41 heading to the fourth. Smith took over in that fourth quarter. She would score 16 of the Black Bears 23 points in the final 10 minutes. After falling behind 10 again, the Highlanders got a jumper by Aria Meyers that cut it to 63-60 with 1:28 remaining. Smith though made a layup on the next Maine possession, and her and Bornemann both went 2-2 from the line over the final 20 seconds to sew up the victory.
Smith had another double double in the win, as she added 10 rebounds and four assists to her point total. She shot 14-22 from the floor and 6-7 from the foul line. Hodgson went 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the three-point arc and finished with 12 points. Anne Simon added eight points and Bornemann had seven, as Maine now improves to 7-8 and 3-0 in conference play. The Black Bears had a 32-21 rebounding edge and shot 55% overall, that included 8-11 (72.7%) in the fourth quarter. Alejandra Zuniga had 16 points in the loss for NJIT. Squier chipped in 14, and Meyers contributed 10 points. Maine heads back on the road to Durham to battle UNH on Wednesday night at 7.
Recap by Chris Lessner
