The last two America East women’s basketball champions will be meeting again in the title game for the second time in three seasons. Adrianna Smith helped Maine advance on Monday night, scoring 15 of her game-high 26 points in the second half with yet another double double performance as the #2 seeded Black Bears outlasted #3 Binghamton 60-56 in the semifinals on Skip Chappelle Court at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono. The defending champion and #1 Vermont Catamounts went double overtime to finally knock out a pesky #4 UMBC squad 68-65 in Burlington. It’ll be Maine and Vermont on Friday, a rematch of the final played in Orono in 2024 won by the Black Bears, this time on the Catamounts home floor.
Both Maine and Binghamton held a slim lead in the first quarter, as it was 15-15 after the opening 10 minutes. The Black Bears took the lead for good in the second using a 6-0 run to take a 27-21 advantage capped off by a layup by Olivia Alvarez, and went to the locker room up 29-24 at the break. Maine took what ended up as their biggest lead of the night (41-30) on a three-pointer by Smith in the third quarter with 1:24 left. Despite being down 10 headed into the final stanza, the Bearcats would slice into their deficit. They would pull within three on four different occasions in the last 3:46, but could get no closer as the Black Bears were clutch at the free throw line knocking down 9-10 in the last 29 seconds and hitting 12-14 in the final period to return to the championship game for a 23rd time in school history.
Bella Pucci led the Binghamton attack with 24 points (5-9 three-pointers). Carletta Bennett and Yanniah Boyd added 10 points a piece. The Bearcats are now 0-9 in their history in America East semifinal games and finish their season with a record of 19-12. Smith recorded her 19th double double of the year (ninth straight) for Maine, as she also had 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Sarah Talon (Windham) contributed 17 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Asta Blauenfeldt put in eight points, and Alvarez finished with seven. The Black Bears (19-12) advance to their eighth title game since Amy Vachon took over as interim head coach during the 2016-17 season (seven played, one canceled due to COVID-19). Vachon has been a part of three championship teams. The Vermont-Maine tip-off on Friday in Burlington is set for 5 p.m. The teams split the regular season meetings with each team winning on the road, with the Black Bears snapping the Catamounts 19-game home winning streak at Patrick Gymnasium in the most recent meeting on February 5th (55-46).
Photo courtesy of UMaine Athletics
