Adrianna Smith had yet another double double, her 10th of the season, with 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds and Jaycie Christopher hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 3:02 remaining Saturday afternoon as the Maine Black Bears defeated the Binghamton Bearcats 50-46 in America East women’s basketball action at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.
Maine (9-9, 5-1 America East) came into play on Saturday looking for a bounce back performance after their first conference loss on Wednesday night against Vermont. After an early 7-2 Black Bears lead, Binghamton came to life and took a four point lead of their own on a pullup jumper in the paint by Jadyn Weltz. The Bearcats led 17-16 after one quarter. A pair of free throws by Anne Simon in the second period gave the guests the lead back, and they would stretch it to 27-20 at the half on a layup by Caroline Bornemann part of an 11-3 quarter.
A three-pointer by Sera Hodgson 4:30 into the third quarter gave Maine their biggest lead of the afternoon 32-24, and that is when Bighamton controlled the final 5:30 to jump back in front. A 7-0 Bearcats run sliced it to a one point deficit, and then they took a 37-35 lead to the fourth helped by a Genevieve Coleman three-pointer. The hosts were still holding a lead 43-39 with 5:53 left to play, but layups by Smith and Bornemann tied it before Christopher pushed Maine into the lead for good with her three-pointer during a 9-0 run to make it 48-43 with 2:23 remaining. Bornemann could have put it away with two free throws with six seconds to go, but missed both and Dena Bowman went to the line two seconds later for Bighamton and made 1-2 to make it 48-46. Smith then got fouled and sank both free throws to finish off the road victory.
Along with the double double by Smith, Bornemann added eight points and five rebounds in the Maine win. Hodgson had seven points, Christopher six, and Paula Gallego chipped in five points and six rebounds. Simon had four points before leaving with another ankle injury in the second half. The Black Bears had 46 rebounds on the day, outrebounding Binghamton 46-39. The Bearcats (10-10, 3-4) were led by Coleman who had 16 points. Weltz had a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Bowman also had 10 points in the defeat. Clare Traeger only had two points, but was big on the boards matching Smith with 15 rebounds. Maine will travel to UMass-Lowell on Wednesday for an 11 a.m. tipoff against the Riverhawks.
Recap by Chris Lessner
UME (9-9, 5-1) 16 11 8 15- 50
BIN (10-10, 3-4) 17 3 17 9- 46
Rebounds- Maine 46, Binghamton 39
Free throws- Maine 9-14, Binghamton 8-10
Three-point goals- Maine: Hodgson 2, Christopher 2, Gallego/ Binghamton: Coleman, Weltz
