BANGOR, Me- Blanca Millan scored a game high 27 points on Saturday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears built a big third quarter lead and then had to hold on down the stretch to pick up a 76-65 America East women’s basketball win over Albany at the Cross Insurance Center.
Both teams shot really well from the floor, knocking down seven three pointers collectively in the opening quarter alone. Maine only trailed once at 3-2, ending the first quarter on 12-3 run to take a 25-15 lead, capped off by a Kelly Fogarty three pointer off the glass from just inside half court as the buzzer sounded.
The Bears led by as many as 15 in the second quarter, and took a 43-32 lead into the break. Maine quickly jumped on Albany to begin the third, going on a 15-2 run that included back to back threes by Parise Rossignol and Tanesha Sutton to give the hosts their biggest lead of the day 58-34. Down 19 entering the fourth, it was Albanys turn at a run. The Great Danes connected on five three pointers in the quarter and a run of 23-10 to get within 68-62 with 3:03 to play. A Sutton basket, two free throws from Dor Saar, and a late steal and layup by Rossignol though put it away as Maine improved to 11-6, 4-0 in America East with their fourth straight win. Albany drops to 4-12, 1-2. Maine head coach Amy Vachon said, “I thought Albany played really hard, played really tough. It isn’t a surprise they don’t die, alot of those kids won championships. I thought our kids played well for two and half quarters, almost three quarters, and then really didn’t play well in that fourth quarter. You saw some times where we played really well, and when we play well we are a really tough team, so we need to find that consistency”.
For Maine, Millan shot 10-14 from the floor, 2-3 from three point land, and 5-5 from the foul line. She also added four rebounds and five steals. Rossignol was also a very proficient 6-10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points. Sutton had 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Amanda Kantzy led Albany with 14 points and six rebounds. Heather Forster had 13 points and six rebounds. Khepara Stokes also added 12 (all in second half), while Kyara Frames chipped in 11. Albany head coach Colleen Mullen said, “Maine shot the lights out. They are a very talented team, they have alot of threats, they have five threats on the floor. They are a team that can hit you with alot of different things offensively. When we score 65 but give up 76, that’s gonna be a problem for us, because with our defense generally we want to keep people under 60 points”.
Maine heads out on the road to West Hartford, Connecticut to continue America East play with a big showdown with the Hartford Hawks on Wednesday night at 7 pm. The Hawks were the Bears opponent in last years America East tournament title game won by Maine. Hartford is 10-7, 3-0 America East so far this season.
ALB 15 17 7 26- 65
UME 25 18 15 18- 76
Field goal % : Albany 51.9 Maine 48.3
3pt% : Albany 41.2 Maine 39.1
Free throws : Albany 4-6 Maine 11-14
Turnovers : Albany 17 Maine 11
