Dominique Leonidas scored a late basket with just four seconds left in regulation, and Justine Graziano scored eight overtime points on Monday night as the Brown University Bears rallied for a 76-70 win over the Maine Black Bears in non-conference women’s basketball action at the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Maine (1-1) trailed the entire first quarter until Blanca Millan and Anne Simon both hit layups late for a 13-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Brown (1-1) built their lead to five twice in the second quarter before the Black Bears ran off six straight points to take a 26-25 halftime lead. Millan was plagued with foul trouble with three in the first half and was held to just three points. Millan had seven in a strong third quarter and Kelly Fogarty also knocked in a pair of three-pointers off the bench as Maine built the lead to six a couple times in the quarter and led by that margin headed to the fourth.
Brown wouldn’t go quiet after Millan extended to the biggest Black Bears lead of the night at 45-37, the home Bears fought back with an 8-0 run to tie it. Layups from Millan and Maddy McVicar gave Maine a four point lead again but that was matched by Brown. From that point the teams exchanged leads that got no bigger than three. A Millan jumper gave the Black Bears back the lead 60-59 with 31 seconds left. Maine took back possession when Leonidas committed an offensive screen foul with 18 seconds showing on the clock. Dor Saar was fouled and hit one of two from the line setting up the shot by Leonidas down the lane in the closing seconds to tie it. Millan had a chance to win it at the buzzer but her runner from the left side of the lane went off the back rim and out. The hosts controlled the overtime as Graziano scored eight of the Bears 15 points in the extra session as Brown bounced back after a season opening loss to Bryant.
Millan ended up with a game high 27 points (24 in second half and overtime). She also added seven rebounds and six steals. Simon ended up with 11 and McVicar added 10 points in the Maine loss. Leonidas had 24 points for Brown adding five rebounds, six assists, and two steals. She shot 9-10 from the floor and 3-3 from the three-point line. It is the first win for Brown over Maine in women’s basketball since 2011.
Maine returns to the Cross Insurance Center to host Boston University on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the home opener
