The Boston College Eagles put three players in double figures on Thursday night, led by 21 points from Taylor Soule to pull away from the Maine Black Bears 69-44 in a first round game of the WNIT at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Maine (20-12), playing in their eighth WNIT game in history, got off to a good start. After only hitting three 3-pointers in total in the loss to Albany in the America East Championship game, the Black Bears hit three in the first quarter alone and had an early 18-10 lead. Caroline Bornemann had 10 of the points in the opening 10 minutes, but Boston College ended the first on a 6-0 run to slice it to 18-16. The home standing Eagles continued that run in the second out to a 22-2 spurt to take a 32-20 advantage. Boston College outscored Maine 22-7 in the period and led 38-25 at the halftime break helped by 15 points from Soule.
Maine would cut the lead for Boston College to eight in the third quarter. Maeve Carroll scored on a layup with 4:45 left for her 1,000th career point, and on the next possession Bornemann knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 42-34. That is as close as the Black Bears would get however. The Eagles finished the period on a 10-3 run to push it back to 15 headed to the final 10 minutes. Maine would never get closer than that 15 point margin after that, as the hosts outscored them 17-7 in the final quarter.
Bornemann led Maine in the loss with 18 points and five rebounds. Anne Simon finished a phenomenal season by adding 14 points and four rebounds, while Carroll in her final game of her career chipped in eight points and 11 rebounds and finishes with exactly 1,000 points. The Black Bears ended up shooting just 29% from the floor and 6-29 (20.6%) from 3-point range. Soule added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals to her game high point total in the victory. Maria Gakdeng had 13 points and four rebounds, while Kaylah Ivey also reached double figures with 10 points. The Eagles shot 50% from the field. Boston College, out of the ACC, is now 20-11 and advances to a second round matchup with either Quinnipiac or Rhode Island. Maine loses two of their last three games after a 14 game win streak, and drops to 1-7 all-time in the WNIT with their last win coming in 1990 over Wyoming.
