ORONO- Caroline Bornemann had a game-high 27 points and also added 12 rebounds on Saturday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears used both a good offensive and defensive showing in routing the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) 81-39 in the Pit at Memorial Gymnasium in America East women’s basketball action.
Maine never trailed, and shot 50% from the floor in the first half in building a sizeable lead. The Black Bears used a 13-1 run in the first quarter, capped off by a three-pointer by Adrianna Smith to make it 15-3 and led by that same 12 point margin 22-10 after the opening 10 minutes. Bornemann was feeling it in the second period. She nailed four 3-pointers in the stanza and had 16 points as she helped her team extend their advantage to 49-25 at the halftime break. Maine continued to roll in the second half, leading by as many as 43 to stay unbeaten in conference play and outrebounded NJIT 48-28.
Bornemann had a total of five 3-pointers, finishing just two points shy of a career-high in the win. Anne Simon also had a solid afternoon finishing with 20 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. In the first half, she also moved up to seventh place on the Maine all-time scoring list. Smith recorded another double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Sarah Talon would also chip in nine points. Jaycie Christopher and Anna Soler contributed six and five points respectively off the bench. The Black Bears are now 12-7, 5-0 in America East their best conference start since the 2003-2004 season, and are only allowing 45.8 points per game to their opponents in league play so far. Freshman Alejandra Zuniga led NJIT in the loss with 15 points, as the Highlanders drop to 8-10 and 0-5. They were held to just 29% shooting (2-11 from the three-point arc). Maine has a big America East battle on Thursday night when they travel to New York to play Albany at 7 p.m. in a contest between the two top teams in the standings. The Great Danes are currently 16-2, 5-0 in America East and are on a 12 game win streak.
Recap/photo/videos by Chris Lessner
