ORONO- The Saint Joseph’s University (Pennsylvania) Hawks built a 12-point fourth quarter lead, and then would hold on to defeat Maine 63-62 in a non-conference women’s basketball matchup played on Friday night on Skip Chappelle Court at Memorial Gymnasium. It was the season opener for the Black Bears.
Adrianna Smith, who missed the entire 2024-25 season due to knee injury, was back on the floor and making her presence felt. It was fitting that the redshirt senior had the first Maine points of the season with a three-pointer in the first quarter. She put up seven points in the opening period as the game was tied 12-12. The Black Bears struggled in the second, shooting just 3-19 from the floor (0-8 three-pointers), and Saint Joseph’s would use a 6-0 run to take the lead for good and a 24-20 edge at the halftime break.
Maine would shoot 7-15 in the third quarter, including 4-6 from three-point range and after trailing by seven early in the half they would pull to within 42-39 on a three-pointer by Smith and a jumper by Asta Blauenfeldt. The Hawks then went on an 8-1 run stretching into the fourth to up their advantage to 50-40 with 7:51 left to play. A three-pointer by Jill Jekot with 4:05 remaining gave Saint Joseph’s their biggest lead of the night at 58-46. The Black Bears didn’t go away though. A layup by Smith cut it 62-59 (13-4 run) with 22 seconds left. After Rhian Stokes made 1-2 from the free throw line for the Hawks, Maine had two looks in the lane from Smith to try to get within two in the final few seconds that missed before it finally came to Blauenfeldt who hit a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded leaving the team one point short in the season opening loss.
Gabby Casey led Saint Joseph’s (2-0) in the win with 19 points and nine rebounds. Faith Stinson had 16 points, while Stokes and Jekot also finished in double figures with 11 points each. Smith had a great first game back in the loss for Maine as she ended up with a game-high 25 points (10-25 from the field, 3-5 three-pointers), 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocked shots. Blauenfeldt added 16 points, while Sarah Talon contributed 10 points and four rebounds. Former Miss Maine Basketball Lizzy Gruber in her debut against her former team chipped in three points, three rebounds, and three assists in 12 minutes. A big contributing factor in the defeat was an 8-16 effort from the foul line by the Black Bears. Maine will travel to North Carolina State to meet the nationally ranked #9 Wolfpack on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
