At Lavietes Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts- Adrianna Smith pulled off the last second heroics on Sunday afternoon, as her layup at the buzzer lifted Maine women’s basketball to a 59-57 win over Harvard. It was the final non-conference game of the season for the Black Bears, who will now turn their attention to league action after the break.
It was a close battle throughout. In the fourth quarter down by three, Asta Blauenfeldt tied it for Maine with a three-pointer with 2:04 left. Smith made 1-2 from the foul line to push the Black Bears ahead by a point with 43 seconds remaining, but that was answered by a 1-2 effort by Abigail Wright of Harvard to tie it back up. On the final possession of the game, Blauenfeldt in the final seconds got into the lane and floated a shot towards the rim. The shot was an airball, but Smith in one motion was there to collect it and put in the layup as time expired for the walkoff victory. Smith would lead the way in the win and would fill up the stat sheet with 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and one blocked shot. Blauenfeldt added 13 points, while Lala Woods put in nine. Sarah Talon and Olivia Alvarez chipped in seven points each, as the Black Bears improve to 5-8 and will take a two game win streak into Christmas Break. Maine will open up the America East schedule on Thursday, January 1st on the road at UMass-Lowell at 6 p.m.
At the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday- Drexel used a run of 30-11 in the first half, turning an early six point deficit into a 13 point lead and wouldn’t trail again in defeating Maine 74-56 in men’s basketball action.
Mekhi Gray led the Black Bears with 12 points, and Logan Carey put in 10. Ace Flagg contributed eight points, Ryan Mabrey seven, while TJ Biel and Keelan Steele chipped in six points a piece. Maine is now 1-13 and has one more non-conference game remaining when they host the University of Maine-Fort Kent (Division III) at Skip Chappelle Court on Tuesday, December 30th at 2 p.m.
Photos courtesy of UMaine Athletics
