PORTLAND, Me- Blanca Millan had a game high 21 points Saturday afternoon, to lead the Maine Black Bears to a 65-43 win over UMBC in the quarterfinal round of the America East women’s basketball tournament at the Cross Insurance Arena.
UMBC began the first quarter shooting just 1-17 from the field, allowing Maine to jump out to a 10-0 lead, and 13-4 after the opening 10 minutes of action. The Retrievers didn’t score their first field goal of the game until there was less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. “Obviously shooting 1-17 in that first quarter put us in a little bit of a deeper hole. I thought three of four balls went in and out, so we were a bit unlucky, but they play really good defense”, said UMBC head coach Phil Stern.
Maine continued to play solid defense and held UMBC to a 6-29 shooting clip in first half to build the lead to 33-15 at the break. The Retrievers ended the game at just under 30 percent shooting at 29.6. Maine shot 39 percent, knocking down seven three pointers, and committing only seven turnovers.
Maine would build the lead to as many as 23 in the third quarter, and after UMBC cut the lead to 16 in the fourth Maine went on an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon at 63-38 and pull away for the quarterfinal win and improve to 21-9. “I was really happy with the way we played today. I thought we came out defensively really really well. I thought Blanca was great, both offensively and defensively as she has been all year. Tanesha with a double double as well, it’s almost expected these days. I thought Parise really gave us a lift off the bench, I thought it was a great team effort. I thought it was a great game”, said Maine head coach Amy Vachon.
UMBC ends their season at 5-26. Rookie of the year Janee’a Summers led the way with 13 points and five rebounds. Laura Castaldo, playing her last game for UMBC as a senior finished with nine points. Brittani Burgess had seven points and 10 rebounds. Stern added, “It was a tough situation for us, playing in front of 2500 or so Mainers. I am proud of our kids with the effort. People always think we are gonna pull the upset, and figure something out and we thought we could”. Stern went on to talk about the senior Castaldo very emotionally saying, “Yeah she has meant alot. She is the toughest kid around. She is exactly what we thought she would be, and we are gonna miss her.”
Millan added five rebounds to her team high in points. Parise Rossignol had a career high 15 points. Sutton finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. Maine will play UNH Sunday in a 2 p.m. semifinal. The Wildcats knocked off Stony Brook 71-54 in Saturdays second quarterfinal.
UMBC 4 11 10 18- 43
MAIN 13 20 14 18- 65
Rebounds- UMBC 35 Maine 41
Free throws- UMBC 7-11 Maine 12-15
