ORONO, Maine- Anne Simon led four players in double figures with 21 points on Sunday afternoon, as the Maine Black Bears fought off a sluggish start to take down the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks 67-54 in an America East women’s basketball semifinal played at Memorial Gymnasium on the UMaine campus before a sold out crowd. Maine advances to their fifth straight America East championship game, and will look to win their third straight next Friday.
There were five lead changes and three ties all in the first half. Both teams held a first quarter lead, with the Black Bears holding a one point lead twice and the Riverhawks having the biggest at 11-6. The visitors led 17-13 after the opening 10 minutes. The bigger issue was Maine starting point guard Dor Saar picking up three fouls and landing on the bench in the final 2:31 and the entire second quarter as well. The hosts finally came back to tie it on a Kelly Fogarty three-pointer with 3:17 left in the half, and would push back into the lead for good when she hit another from behind the arc 1:15 later. The Black Bears used a 17-4 run in the final 6:45 capped by a Maddy McVicar jumper that sent the fans at the Pit into a frenzy, leading 35-27 at the break. The Riverhawks stayed in the game helped by dominating the glass, with a 31-14 bulge in rebounds in the first 20 minutes with two, three, and sometimes four shots on one possession.
A layup from Maeve Carroll early in the third quarter gave Maine their biggest lead to that point at 39-27. UMass-Lowell answered with a 8-0 run over the next 2:37 to cut it to 39-35. The Riverhawks would slice the margin to just a pair on a layup from Kharis Idom but couldn’t overtake the lead, and the Black Bears led 46-41 headed to the fourth quarter. After Maine built the lead to 13 early in the fourth quarter, Lowell answered with a pair of Brianne Stiers free throws and a three-pointer from Idom to make it 56-48 with 5:46 left to play. Saar came back with a three-pointer though, and then on a fastbreak made a no look pass to Carroll for an uncontested layup to make it 13 again and the Riverhawks never recovered only getting as close as 10 the rest of the way. The Black Bears biggest lead was 14 as they iced their 10th straight win.
Simon added eight rebounds and four assists to her game high point total in the Maine win. Simon would foul out late in the game. Carroll finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists. It is the 11th double double of the season and third straight for the junior. McVicar and Fogarty both chipped in 11 points. Saar also contributed eight points and four assists in the least amount of minutes she has played in a game all season (28). Idom had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead UMass-Lowell in the loss before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Jaliena Sanchez added nine points, while Stiers, Denise Solis, and Tiahna Sears all had seven points a piece. Stiers had 12 rebounds, Solis had nine, and Sears also had 10 as the Riverhawks outrebounded the Black Bears 57-31 including 26-8 on the offensive end. Maine did force 20 turnovers, and only committed eight. UMass-Lowell ends their season at 16-15.
Maine (18-14) will play in the America East title game on Friday at 5 p.m. at Stony Brook (28-3). The Seawolves won their semifinal over Binghamton and stays unbeaten on their home floor this season. Stony Brook is making their second finals appearance all time, and first since 2014.
