They say defense wins championships. The University of Maine showed off a championship-caliber defense on Thursday, holding Vermont to just 33% shooting en route to a 55-46 America East women’s basketball win at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vermont. The loss snaps a six game win streak for the Catamounts, and is also their first defeat at home in their last 20 games.
The Black Bears would face their biggest deficit of the day 31 seconds into the second quarter 17-9 on a three-pointer by Malia Lenz, but would respond in the next 6:18 by ripping off a 12-0 run sparked by four points from Adrianna Smith and a pair of three-pointers from Asta Blauenfeldt to take a 21-17 advantage. They would lead 21-20 at the break. The Catamounts jumped on top for the final time (28-26) on a jumper by Keira Hanson with 4:11 left in the third quarter, before a three-point play by Blauenfeldt a minute later restored a Maine lead for good. With Maine up 44-41 with 4:07 remaining in the game, they would go on an 11-5 run to finish it off including a 5-6 effort at the foul line over the final 1:34 in splitting the regular season series with Vermont.
Nikola Priede had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for Vermont. Hanson finished with 13 points and five rebounds. while Jadyn Waltz added 11 points as the Catamounts fell to 19-6 and 8-2 in America East and were held to 24 points under their season point average in league play. Blauenfeldt would lead Maine with 21 points (4-5 three-pointers), while Smith recorded her 11th double double of the season with 17 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Lala Woods would chip in with nine points, and Sarah Talon (Windham) contributed six. The Black Bears improve to 12-11 and 7-3 in conference play, and will get another chance at redemption when they host Bryant on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs won the first meeting 82-73 in Rhode Island on January 3rd.
Photo of Asta Blauenfeldt courtesy of UMaine Athletics
