Anne Simon had 21 of her game-high 25 points in the second half on Tuesday evening, in helping to lead the Maine Black Bears past the Rhode Island Rams 59-48 in non-conference women’s basketball action in the Pit at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono.
The first quarter saw seven lead changes, with Maine holding a slim 12-11 advantage after 10 minutes. A jumper by Dee Dee Davis with 1:43 left in the second gave Rhode Island the biggest lead of the game to that point 26-21. The Black Bears scored four of the final five points of the half to cut it to 27-25 at the break. With things still close in the third quarter, Simon went on a tear as she had the last 10 points for her team in the period and tied it with a three-pointer with 3:42 remaining. She gave Maine the lead for good with a layup in the final 30 seconds, as the hosts took a 42-40 advantage to the fourth. The graduate guard wasn’t done, as she scored the first five points of the fourth (15 straight) to extend it to a seven point lead forcing a URI timeout. The Rams never got closer than five after that, as Simon added 11 more to her point total over the final 10 minutes.
Simon added five rebounds and three assists to help Maine improve to 3-1. Adrianna Smith had a double double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and a blocked shot. Caroline Bornemann also chipped in eight points and five rebounds, while Sera Hodgson and Sarah Talon contributed five points a piece. Maya Toure led Rhode Island in the loss with 15 points and nine rebounds. The Rams who were picked to win the Atlantic 10 in the preseason poll and won their first two games over Sacred Heart and UMass-Lowell by an average of 45.5 points, dropped to 2-1 on the season. The solid Black Bears defense held URI to 29% shooting from the floor (1-22 from the three-point arc). They have only allowed 48 points to each of their last three opponents consecutively during this three game win streak. Maine returns to action next week on Friday, November 24th on the road in a multi-team event at the Drake University Thanksgiving Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa against the University of Richmond. They play three games in three days, as they’ll also face Louisiana Tech and Drake Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th respectively.
Recap/photo by Chris Lessner
