Graduate guard Anne Simon had her second consecutive big outing on Saturday afternoon with a game-high 27 points, leading Maine to a 74-62 women’s basketball win over Fordham University at Rose Hill Gym in Bronx, New York. The win snaps a two game losing streak for the Black Bears.
After Fordham led early 4-0, a layup by Simon gave Maine their first lead and they would never trail again. With the score even at 14-14, the Black Bears ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run on a Paula Gallego layup and then a three-pointer and layup by Simon for a 21-14 advantage. They continued the run to 10-0 in the second on a three-pointer by Caroline Bornemann and would hold a 10 point lead at halftime. Simon buried a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter a minute apart to give Maine their largest led of the afternoon at 48-33. The Rams got within eight in the fourth with 4:02 left, but the visitors put it away on a three point play by Simon and a three-pointer from Sera Hodgson to improve to 5-4 on the season. Simon was coming off a career-high 34 points in a close loss to #17 Indiana on Thursday night.
Simon added eight rebounds and three assists to her point total. She shot 9-12 from the floor (4-6 three-pointers) and 5-5 from the foul line. She has scored in double figures in all but two Maine games on the year thus far. Adrianna Smith had yet another double double with 16 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists. Smith is second in the country with six double doubles in nine contests. Hodgson also chipped in 12 points (4-5 three-pointers). The Black Bears overall shot 52% from the field, and 41% (11-27) from the three-point arc. Graduate guard Anna Kahelin, who has battled alot of injury problems, played for the first time in 390 days and would score two points in 16 minutes of action. Taylor Donaldson had 21 points in the loss for Fordham, who had their three game win streak snapped. The Rams, out of the Atlantic 10, dropped to 5-3. Maine went 4-1 against the A-10 on their non-conference schedule. The Black Bears will return home to host Harvard out of the Ivy League on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Pit in Orono.
Recap by Chris Lessner/File photo courtesy of Anthony DelMonaco
