The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams took on the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Thursday night. The women hosted the Retrievers looking to stay unbeaten in America East play, while the men were on the road in Baltimore looking for their first conference victory.
In the Pit at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono- After trailing by a point after one quarter, the Maine women’s basketball team went on 10-0 run to start the second to take control of the game and got yet another double double performance from Adrianna Smith in rolling to a 76-47 win over UMBC. During the spurt to start the second period, Smith scored nine of those 10 points including a three-pointer to cap off the run to turn the 14-13 deficit into a 23-14 lead that the Black Bears would never relinquish. The junior forward scored 15 of her game-high 33 points in that 10 minutes of action as her team led 34-23 at the break. 11 points is the closest the visiting Retrievers would be the rest of the night, as Maine would eventually push their advantage to as many as 34 in the fourth quarter to stay unbeaten in America East.
Smith added 12 rebounds to her 33 points in the win for Maine, shooting 14-20 from the floor. Anne Simon, Sarah Talon, and Olivia Rockwood each contributed 10 points a piece as the Black Bears go to 11-7 overall and 4-0 in the conference, shooting collectively 51% from the field as a team. Anna Blount had a team-high 13 points and seven rebounds in the loss for UMBC, who falls to 6-11 and 2-3 in America East.
At Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore- A game-high 21 points from Dion Brown helped end an eight game losing streak for UMBC men’s basketball with a 70-65 win over Maine. The Black Bears held one lead very early on just over two minutes in at 3-2, before the Retrievers came alive and built as much as a 10 point advantage as part of an 8-2 run at 19-9 on a jumper by Brown. Maine battled back to tie it on a couple occasions, but the hosts held a slim 34-30 lead at the halftime break. The Black Bears took their first lead since that 3-2 score at 38-37 on a layup by Peter Filipovity 2:47 into the second half. Their last lead was 62-60 on a fastbreak layup by Kellen Tynes with 3:03 left to play. A layup by Brown and a free throw by Ace Valentine pushed the Retrievers ahead for good. A big conventional three-point play by Max Lorca-Llloyd would make it 66-62 with 43 seconds remaining. A three-pointer by Kristians Feierbergs pulled the guests within 66-65 just 14 seconds later, but two free throws by Brown and two more by Marcus Banks after a missed three-pointer by Quion Burns and a turnover by Filipovity would ice it.
Tynes and Feierbergs had 13 points each for Maine. Tynes added eight rebounds, two assists, and six steals. Burns and AJ Lopez each had 10 points. The Black Bears shot just 32% from the floor, in seeing their record fall to 8-10 and 0-3 in America East with their sixth straight loss overall. Brown added six rebounds to his game-high point total in the win for UMBC. Banks had 18 points and Valentine chipped in 15 points. The Retrievers improve to 6-13 and 1-3 in conference play.
Both Maine teams are back in action on Saturday against the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The women will host the Highlanders in the Pit at 1 p.m., while the men are on the road in New Jersey at 2 p.m.
Recaps by Chris Lessner
