The Maine womens basketball team trailed by as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter Saturday afternoon, before rallying to take a late 62-60 lead. However, the host UMBC Retrievers scored the games last six points to earn a 66-62 America East victory at the RAC Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
This was the second meeting of the season between the two teams, as Maine drubbed UMBC 72-40 back on January 7th at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. A back and forth game throughout the first half, as there were three ties and 10 lead changes in the first 20 minutes alone. A late second quarter three-pointer gave UMBC the slight 32-31 advantage at halftime.
The Retrievers extended the lead by outscoring the Black Bears 18-10 in the third quarter, to take a 50-41 advantage to the fourth.
UMBC (11-12, 6-4 America East) had their largest lead three minutes into the fourth quarter at 56-46.
With Maine down seven with just over 3:30 left, the Bears got three-pointers from Julie Brousseau, Sigi Koizar, and then Sheraton Jones with just under two minutes left to take a 62-60 lead.
The hosts regained the lead when Taylor McCarley hit a driving layup to make it 64-62 lead with 45 seconds left. Brousseau appeared to put Maine back into the lead when her three-pointer went in with 25 seconds left, but the ball hit the shot clock before bouncing into the basket, giving the ball back to UMBC. McCarley put the game away with two foul shots with 16.8 seconds left. Maine is now 12-13 and 5-5 in America East, falling to 1-5 in road conference games.
Laia Sole led the way for Maine with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal. Anita Kelava also chipped in 10 points, two assists, one block, and one rebound. Maine shot 39 percent from the floor, nailing nine three-pointers to stay in the game (9-29), but shot only 1-7 from the foul line.
McCarley scored a game high 21 points for UMBC. McCarley added six assists, six steals, and three rebounds. Laura Costaldo added 12 points and five rebounds, while Shaq Sims had 11 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. UMBC shot the ball at 45 percent, and knocked down 11-17 from the line. The Retrievers also outscored Maine 17-12 in points of turnovers.
Maine returns to action on the road again Monday night when they travel to Hartford to battle the Hawks. Tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
MAINE (12-13, 5-5) 16 15 10 21- 62
UMBC (11-12, 6-4) 16 16 18 16- 66
Turnovers- Maine 16 UMBC 14
