The hardware keeps coming for the University of Maine women’s basketball team. Anne Simon scored a game high 24 points as the Black Bears finished the regular season with a 12 game win streak, by knocking off the University of Maryland-Baltimore County for a second straight day 71-47 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The win gives Maine the America East regular season title.
Maine started slow, shooting 3-17 in the first quarter, and UMBC led 11-7 after the opening 10 minutes. The Black Bears came alive in the second, starting the period on a 10-0 run. A jumper by Maeve Carroll, a three point play by Simon, a three-pointer by Caroline Bornemann, and a layup by Alba Orois pushed the hosts ahead for good 17-11. Maine would lead 30-20 at the halftime break.
Maine (18-10, 15-3 America East) poured it on in the second half outscoring UMBC 24-13 in the third quarter to build a 21 point lead, and would increase that to as many as 30 in the fourth.
Simon added four rebounds, four assists, and two steals to her point total in the win. She was 4-9 from the three-point arc. Bornemann had 14 points and four rebounds, while Orois finished with 11 points, four rebounds, nine assists, and two steals. The Black Bears ended up 47.3% from the floor after the sluggish start, and hit 10-29 (34.5%) from long range. Onome-Juliet Esadah led UMBC in the loss with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Keelah Dixon had 13 points. The Retrievers are now 3-22, 2-13 in America East and have one regular season game remaining. Maine will have homecourt advantage as the top seed for the conference playoffs, and will start that off with a quarterfinal at Memorial Gym (The Pit) next Saturday, March 5 at 1 p.m. It is the second consecutive regular season title for the Black Bears, who fell in the conference title game to Stony Brook in Orono last year.
