Maine junior transfer guard Asta Blauenfeldt scored a career-high 24 points on Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough as the Black Bears dropped their second game in a row in a 67-57 loss to Boston University at Case Gymnasium in Boston, Massachusetts.
Maine, looking for a response after their 42-point home loss to Harvard on Sunday, got off to a solid start. The Black Bears used a 10-0 first quarter run and led by as many as 12 at 21-9, as Blauenfeldt put in seven points and Olivia Rockwood had six. Boston University turned that around in the second, outscoring the visitors 18-6 in the period and would never trail again going up 29-27 at halftime on a layup at the buzzer by Allison Schwertner. Maine shot just 3-12 in that second quarter (0-6 three-pointers).
After Paula Gallego tied it early in the third quarter for Maine with a layup, Boston University would score 20 of the next 27 points to take their biggest lead of the night at 49-36 on a driving layup by sophomore Bella McLaughlin. McLaughlin, the former Hampden Academy standout, started her first career collegiate game after transferring from Providence after her freshman season. The Terriers held a 49-41 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes. The Black Bears were only able to get as close as five the rest of the way in falling to 2-3 on the season, shooting 36% from the field and 8-29 from the three-point arc (27.6%).
Blauenfeldt was 9-11 from the floor (4-5 from three-point range), and also added three rebounds and four steals to her game-high and career-high point total in the loss for Maine. The previous high for the junior was 20 points last November when she played for Seattle University. Rockwood and Sarah Talon each had nine points, and Caroline Bornemann chipped in seven. Talon contributed eight rebounds, while Bornemann had six but the two combined to shoot 6-25 (1-9 three-pointers). Schwertner led Boston University with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Alex Giannaros had 20 to go along with three rebounds, six assists, and two steals. McLaughlin was very productive shooting 5-9 with 14 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes. The Terriers out of the Patriot League shot 50% in the second half to improve to 2-2. Maine returns home to take on unbeaten Quinnipiac (4-0) from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference on Sunday afternoon at the Pit inside Memorial Gymnasium in Orono at 2:30 p.m.
