ORONO- After a slow start and falling behind by 11 points in the first half on Saturday afternoon, the University of Maine women’s basketball team got a game-high 29 point double double performance from Adrianna Smith to rally past Bryant University 64-56 on National Girls and Women in Sports Day at Skip Chappelle Court inside Memorial Gymnasium.
After things were tight early on, the visiting Bulldogs would go on a run of 17-6 stretching into the second quarter to take a 26-15 lead on a three-pointer from Mia Mancini. The Black Bears fought back with a spurt of their own of 16-5, and a backcourt steal by Olivia Alvarez led to a three-pointer from Smith with 33 seconds left to make it 31-31 at the break. Smith had 11 of those 16 points during the run, and had 19 in the opening 20 minutes. After Bryant took back a slight advantage by three early in the third, Maine would capture the lead back for good (35-34) and the first since it was 2-0 when Asta Blauenfeldt hit a tough baseline jumper. They built that to as many as six on a three-point play by Sarah Talon (Windham), and led 45-40 heading to the final 10 minutes. Talon also made two key baskets in the fourth period. With the Bulldogs still hanging around down 55-51 with 2:49 remaining, the Black Bears put it away with layups from Blauenfeldt and Smith along with a 5-6 effort at the foul line in the final 32 seconds to split the regular season series with Bryant.
Mancini led the Bulldogs in the loss with 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Bryant falls to 16-8 and 6-5 in America East. Smith added 11 rebounds to her point total for her 12th double double of the season in the Maine win. She made 10-15 at the line while also contributing two blocked shots, and surpassed Sigi Koizar for ninth place on the all-time women’s scoring list (1,679). Blauenfeldt chipped in 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Talon also got into double figures by putting in 10 points, grabbing seven rebounds, with four assists and two steals. Lizzy Gruber (Gardiner) also continued her solid play in limited minutes (15) by scoring seven points and hauling in four rebounds. The Black Bears are now 13-11 and 8-3 in the conference and travel to UMBC on Thursday night to take on the Retrievers at 6:30 p.m.
