The University of Maine men’s and women’s basketball teams played an America East doubleheader at Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, New Hampshire on Wednesday evening against the UNH Wildcats. The women were looking to get back over .500 in conference play, while the men looked for back to back wins after beating UNH Monday night in Bangor.
In the women’s game, Maine never trailed getting a game high 16 points from Anne Simon to hold off UNH 53-45.
Maine (7-10, 4-3 America East) scored the first five points and led by as many as seven in the opening quarter and 15-10 after 10 minutes of action. UNH fought back and tied it 25-25 on a Sophia Widmeyer three-pointer with 2:24 left first half. A Maeve Carroll layup though almost a minute later restored a Black Bears lead and a 31-26 advantage at the half. After the guests built the lead to nine early in the third quarter, the Wildcats came storming back again and it was Widmeyer once more with a layup in the paint to make it 36-36. A three-pointer by Caroline Bornemann 31 seconds later gave Maine the three point lead, and UNH never got any closer in the final period. Simon added four rebounds and eight steals to the game high point total in the win. Bornemann had 14 points, Carroll added seven points and 12 rebounds, Olivia Rockwood had six points, while Alba Orois and Paula Gallego had five points a piece. Widmeyer had 11 points and eight rebounds in the loss for UNH. Helena Delaruelle and Amanda Torres added 10 points each, as the Wildcats fall to 4-14, 1-6 in conference play.
In the men’s game, UNH responded to a Monday night loss to Maine by scoring the first 15 points of the game and would lead by as many as 25 in securing a 73-61 win.
A trio of three-pointers by the hosts helped to make it 15-0 in the first 3:48 of action. UNH had their biggest leads of the first half of 21 at 35-14 and 37-16, before an 11-2 Maine run finished off by a Sam Ihekwoaba layup sliced it to a 39-27 deficit with 38 seconds to go. Marco Foster gave the Wildcats a 15 point halftime advantage with a last second three-pointer. After Maine again cut it to 12 to start the second half with one behind the arc by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish, UNH ran off 10 straight points to increase it to 22 and the lead went to their biggest later on at 25. The Black Bears did cut it to 12 again twice in the final 3:05 but it was too little too late. Ihekwoaba led Maine in the loss with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Vukasin Masic added 12 points, and Kristians Feierbergs had 10 points and four rebounds. The Bears shot just 5-15 from the three-point line, after hitting 14-28 in the win on Monday night. Blondeau Tchoukuiegno led four players in double figures with a game high 23 points, four rebounds, two assists, and three steals for UNH. The Wildcats are 8-7, 3-3 in America East while the Black Bears record slips to 4-14, 1-6 in conference.
The men return to action Saturday afternoon weather permitting at first place Vermont, while the women host the Catamounts on Sunday afternoon in Bangor.
