BANGOR, Me- The Maine Black Bears faced a late third quarter deficit of 16 points Sunday afternoon, but came all the way back for a thrilling 74-69 overtime win over Albany before a big crowd of 3,140 at the Cross Insurance Center.
With the win, Maine wins the America East regular season title with a league mark of 13-3, while Albany finishes 12-4. Maine is now 20-9 overall, Albany slips to 23-6. The Black Bears will now be the #1 seed when the America East tournament begins next Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Maine will play UMBC in the opening game of the tournament Saturday at 12 noon. With a win, Maines semifinal game would be Sunday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the other quarterfinal which features Stony Brook and UNH. With two wins on the weekend in Portland, Maine would have home court for the America East title game on Friday March 9 at 4 p.m.
Albany started the game red hot, sticking six three point shots in the opening quarter and led by as many as nine. It was 22-15 after the first. Maine would get within a point at 30-29 in the second quarter, before Albany ran off an 7-0 run to make the advantage 37-29 at halftime.
The Great Danes continued to widen the lead and with four minutes left in the third they had their biggest lead at 53-37. Maine scored seven of the last 10 points of the third to make it 56-44 after three.
Maine down by 10-14 points for almost half the fourth quarter, made a push. Tanesha Sutton cut it to eight at 64-56, before later making back to back driving layups to cut the lead all the way to a two point deficit at 64-62. Praise Rossingnol drilled a three pointer to give Maine their first lead of the game at 65-64 with 1:30 left. Jessica Fequiere made two from the line with 1:23 remaining to give Albany back a one point lead at 66-65. Maine freshman guard Dor Saar was fouled after a missed Albany shot with 39.7 seconds left, and connected on 1 of 2 from the line to tie it up 66-66. Maine had a final chance when Albanys Tiana Jo-Carter, a Maine native, traveled with 17.6 seconds left. Julie Brosseau had a great look at a three pointer for the win, but the ball went three quarters of the way down and then popped back out as time expired sending the game to overtime. The Bears rally was without leading scorer Blanca Millan, who fouled out with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter.
In overtime, Saar made two from the foul line to give Maine a 68-67 lead, and then a big three pointer to make it 71-67 with just over 2:30 left in the extra session. Emma List made two from the line for Albany to cut it to 71-69, before Brosseau got redemption from the earlier miss in the fourth quarter, off a pass from Sutton burying a three pointer with 11.5 seconds left and sending the Cross Center crowd into delirium.
Sutton finished the day with a game and career high of 27 points. Sutton added seven rebounds and five assists. Millan finished with 11 points and six rebounds, while Saar had 11 as well to go along with nine assists. Brosseau had eight, while Rossingnol and Fanny Wadling both added six points. Sutton said, “We were all focused, I was very focused, I was zoned in. There was no doubt in my mind that we weren’t gonna win.”
Albany was led by Fequiere who had 25 points and 12 rebounds. Mackenzie Trpcic had 14 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Albany head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said, “It was a heartbreaker. I thought Maine really played well in that fourth quarter, hit some big shots, thought the crowd was spectacular and a good sixth man for them.” Maine head coach Amy Vachon also spoke after the win, “In the huddle they felt like they were gonna win the entire game. It’s just they weren’t getting stops the whole game. When we got stops they had to go man, and they have a hard time guarding us in man.” Vachon went on to add, “This team is such a special group. So dedicated, to each other, to the program, and to the coaches.”
The regular season title was the first one that the Bears have won outright since the 2004-2005 season. Maine outscored Albany 37-16 in the last 19 minutes of play and held the Great Danes without a field goal in the overtime.
