UMBC went ice cold in the second half on Thursday night, as the University of Maine pulled away for a 58-43 victory in women’s America East basketball action at Skip Chappelle Court inside Memorial Gymnasium in Orono.
The Retrievers got off to an ideal road start, as they went up 15-9 in the first quarter and 21-16 just over two minutes into the second on a jumper in the paint by Heidi Williams. It was all Black Bears after that. Maine ended the first half on a run of 13-4 to take a four point lead at the break, and extended that spurt to 17-4 in the third to extend to a comfortable nine point advantage capped off by a three-pointer by Asta Blauenfeldt. UMBC shot 2-12 in that third period, and started the fourth 0-13 as the hosts would put things away going up as many as 21 in the final 10 minutes. The Retrievers would end up 6-33 from the floor in the second half (18%), and shot 29% overall for the game.
Williams led UMBC with 16 points, while Jade Tillman put in 13. The Retrievers fall to 5-9 and 0-2 in America East. Adrianna Smith recorded yet another double double in the Maine victory as she had 19 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Sarah Talon and Blauenfeldt both had 13 points. Lala Woods also contributed eight points and six rebounds, while Lizzy Gruber (Gardiner) had her best collegiate game especially on the defensive end as she had four blocks to go along with five points, three rebounds, and two assists. The Black Bears improve to 7-9 and 2-1 in the conference and will host NJIT on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
