Adrianna Smith added to her league leading double double total with her 11th of the season on Wednesday, as the Maine Black Bears never trailed in putting four players in double figures enroute to a 61-50 America East women’s basketball win over UMass-Lowell on Kennedy Family Court at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts. The victory is the 14th consecutive America East regular season win on the road for Maine.
Maine took advantage of a cold shooting start by UMass-Lowell (2-11) to build as much as an 11 point twice in the first half. With the score 6-6 five minutes into the first quarter, the guests ended the opening 10 minutes on an 11-2 run that included a pair of three-pointers by Olivia Rockwood. Her long distance three at the buzzer made it 17-8. That advantage went to 11 twice in the second quarter, the second time with 5:34 left on a layup by Caroline Bornemann. A 6-0 run by the Riverhawks finished by a layup from Jaliena Sanchez sliced it to five with 2:29 to go before the break. A pair of three-pointers though by Jaycie Christopher would give Maine a 27-18 cushion at halftime.
Maine took full control in the third quarter, as UMass-Lowell would once again struggle from the field (3-15). Smith, who was held to five points in the first half, would score 11 in the period and her layup along with two by Bornemann in the final 45 seconds would extend to their biggest lead of the day 47-26 by outscoring the Riverhawks 20-8. UML (2-16, 1-7 America East) did score the first seven points of the fourth quarter, but never got closer than the final margin of 11 as the Black Bears picked up the road win to sweep the season series.
Smith finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists (16 points in the second half), tying her for 10th in the country with those 11 double doubles. She has scored double figures in 10 straight games, and has recorded a double double in six of the seven America East games that Maine has played so far. Rockwood had 14 points (4-6 three-pointers), while Bornemann and Christopher both had 10 points a piece. Bornemann also had a double double as she had 10 rebounds, as the Black Bears improve to 10-9 overall and 6-1 in the conference. They played without Anne Simon, who re-aggravated an ankle injury in the second half of the Saturday road win at Binghamton. Mili Carrera had a career high 16 points along with five rebounds in the loss for UMass-Lowell, while Ivory Finley added 12 points. Maine now gets set for a rematch of last years America East Championship game when they host the Albany Great Danes at the Pit on Saturday at 1 p.m. UAlbany entered play on Wednesday at home against UNH on a seven game win streak (13-8 overall, 7-0 in America East).
Recap by Chris Lessner
UME (10-9, 6-1) 17 10 20 14- 61
UML (2-16, 1-7) 8 10 8 24- 50
Rebounds- Maine 35, UML 33
Free throws- Maine 5-11, UML 13-18
Turnovers- Maine 14, UML 17
Three-pointers- Maine: Rockwood 4, Christopher 2/ UML: Finley
Maine head coach Amy Vachon talks with her team during a timeout in a game earlier this season at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono. The Black Bears recorded their sixth conference victory in seven tries on Wednesday with a 61-50 win at UMass-Lowell. Photo by Chris Lessner
