Maines Blanca Millan (in white) puts up a shot over Duke defender Jade Williams during non-conference basketball action at the Cross Insurance Center on Thursday, November 15, 2018. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco (click to enlarge)
BANGOR, Me- The University of Maine women’s basketball team fought off a slow start Thursday night, falling just short on a comeback bid 66-63 to #20 Duke out of the ACC in non-conference action at the Cross Insurance Center before 2,868 energetic fans.
Duke (1-1) had an 11 point lead at 63-52, thanks to a three pointer from Miela Fairchild with about 4:30 left to play in the game. But Maine scored 11 of the next 13 points, thanks to a three point basket by Blanca Millan, and two baskets each from Tanesha Sutton and Fanny Wadling to make it 65-63 with about a minute to go. Haley Gorecki missed two from the foul line with 23.5 seconds for the Blue Devils, giving the Bears a chance to tie it. Sutton missed on a drive to the basket, and fouled Jade Williams who made 1-2 from the charity stripe to make it 66-63 with 13.4 seconds left on the clock. Maine guard Dor Saar missed on a three point attempt to tie it as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Maine had rallied after a bad start where they shot just 3-17 from the floor in the opening quarter, including a 1-10 start for standout guard Millan. “We know we are a pretty good shooting team, so everytime someone takes a shot we just say keep shooting, keep shooting and they wouldn’t go in. Everyone tries and we have trust, so we just keep shooting until they go in basically”, said Millan. The Bears trailed by 10 at the end of the opening period, and by 12 in the opening half before using a 9-2 run to trim it to five at the break. The hosts still trailed by eight at the end of three, before making their final run in the fourth quarter.
Gorecki finished with 21 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, and seven steals to lead Duke. Leaonna Odom had 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. Goodchild finished with 14, while Williams added 11 points and six rebounds. For Gorecki, it was her second career double double and career high in assists and steals. Former Maine coach and now Duke head coach Joanne Palumbo-McCallie said, “What a great basketball game, and a great crowd. I think it was really important for us to play in front of a great crowd. I knew Maine would do a good job, they did, some of their players played really well. I am really proud of our team, cause I thought we made some of the bigger plays in the toughest times when they crowd was getting loud and the game got close. We missed an opportunity to put the game away, credit to Maine for fighting back, and I am just really proud of our team for a very blue collar effort”.
For Maine, Millan finished with 25 points on 11-22 shooting after the 1-10 start, adding five rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Sutton had 14 points and five rebounds, while Saar added 11 points and five assists. The Black Bears outrebounded the Blue Devils 33-27 including 12-5 on the offensive glass, despite being four inches shorter on average than each Duke player. Maine coach Amy Vachon said, “Credit to Duke, Gorecki is one heck of a player that stat line is pretty impressive. It seemed liked every time we needed a stop, she was there to hit a three. I just can’t be more proud of our kids, they battled to be down 11 with less than five minutes to go and to make it a one possessions game. If you look at the stats, 12 offensive rebounds and one point we didn’t have a kid over six feet in there. I love this team, I love their fight, they are disappointed obviously we wanted to win this and believed we could. That is one thing I love most about this team, they believe we can beat anyone we play and that is a special feeling to have. I mean you are not gonna win every game you play but to have that belief and going in that way, I will take it any day”.
Maine now heads out on the road as they travel to Wisconsin to battle the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Tuesday night at 8 pm. The game can be seen live on ESPN Plus.
