Maine women's basketball drops regular season finale on the road against Bryant

Asta Blauenfeldt had a game-high 20 points Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as Bryant used a 10-3 run late in the third quarter and pulled away from Maine for a 68-57 America East women's basketball victory in the regular season finale at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island. 

Blauenfeldt shot 7-14 (4-7 three-pointers), while also adding four rebounds, three assists, and two steals to her point total in the Maine loss. Caroline Bornemann and Caroline Dotsey had 10 points a piece. Bornemann also contributed six rebounds and two assists. Sarah Talon and Paula Gallego put in eight and seven points respectively. The Black Bears shot 35% overall, including 3-15 (20%) in the third period when the hosts increased their lead from eight to 16. Nia Scott led four Bryant players in double figures with 18 points and eight rebounds. Breezie Williams had 13 points, Mimi Rubino 11, and Ali Brigham 10. The Bulldogs end their regular season at 16-13 and 9-7 in America East. Maine finishes 14-15 and 9-7 in the conference (#4 seed) and will host a quarterfinal playoff game in Orono on Thursday night, March 6th at 6 p.m. vs #5 NJIT.

Maine women's ice hockey falls short at Boston College in conference quarterfinal 

Julia Pellerin had two goals, including a second period game winner on Saturday evening, in leading #3 seed Boston College past #6 Maine 4-3 in a women's Hockey East quarterfinal game played at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Maine had a pair of one goal leads in the contest, including the opening tally when Elise Morphy scored at 4:16 of the first period. Boston College answered just over two minutes later when Alanna Devlin found the back of the net at 6:32. Makayla Boarder made it 2-1 Black Bears 52 seconds into the middle period, but the Eagles scored the next two at 4:32 by Pellerin and at 5:37 by Keri Clougherty on the powerplay to jump ahead 3-2. The Black Bears re-tied it on a powerplay goal by Jamie Grinder at 8:43, before the second of the period by Pellerin proved to be the game winner just 12 seconds later. Maine pulled goaltender Kiia Lahtinen with 1:54 left in the game for the extra attacker, but couldn't come up with the equalizer as Boston College advanced. 

Boarder had one goal and one assist in the Maine loss. Raegan Wurm, Ava Stevenson, Brenna Curl, Kendall Sundby, and Mira Seregely each had one assist. Lahtinen had 23 saves. Pellerin was the leading scorer in the game with her two goals and one assist for Boston College. Kate Ham also had two assists. Grace Campbell stopped 25 shots in net, as the Eagles now advance to the semifinals on Wednesday at Boston University with a record of 21-12-2. The Black Bears end up with a final mark of 11-21-3. 

First place Bryant holds off Maine men's basketball in Orono. The Black Bears do clinch a home quarterfinal playoff game 

The top men's team in America East, the Bryant University Bulldogs, completed a season sweep over the Maine Black Bears 80-72 on Skip Chappelle Court at Memorial Gymnasium in Orono on Saturday afternoon. Despite the loss, Maine clinches a home quarterfinal playoff game on Saturday, March 8th with time and opponent to be announced. 

Both teams had a lead in the first half, but not by more than five points. Kellen Tynes (9) and Jaden Clayton (8) combined for 17 points for Maine, but Bryant held a slight 38-37 advantage at the break. The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the afternoon of eight early in the second half, before the Black Bears got within 72-70 on two free throws by Quion Burns with 3:04 left to play. Maine only scored two points the rest of the way, and the guests hit 6-6 at the charity stripe in the final 45 seconds to hold on for the road victory. 

Tynes and Burns led four scorers in double figures with 15 points a piece in the loss for Maine. Tynes added five rebounds, two assists, and one steal while Burns grabbed six rebounds. AJ Lopez put in 14 points, and Clayton finished with 13. Rafael Pinzon had a game-high 28 points for Bryant, knocking down 6-14 on three-point attempts. The Bulldogs (19-11, 13-2 in America East) will clinch the regular season title and the #1 seed with a win over UNH on Tuesday. The Black Bears (17-13, 9-6) host UMass-Lowell on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the regular season finale, and their playoff quarterfinal game on March 8th will be their first at home since 1995.

Maine men's hockey holds off Vermont for the weekend sweep on Senior Night on Saturday

Freshman forward Thomas Pichette scored a game winning third period goal on Saturday night, as #5 Maine held off Vermont 4-3 on Senior Night in men's Hockey East action before a soldout crowd of 5,043 at Alfond Arena.

The teams traded first period goals as Josh Nadeau scored at 2:35 for Maine, before Vermont evened it 19:21 on a tally from Max Strand. The Black Bears dominated the middle stanza, and took a 3-1 advantage on goals from Nicholas Niemo at 6:34 and Owen Fowler at 14:55. Simon Jellus got the Catamounts back within one by finding the net at 5:20 of the third period. Pichette had the answer for Maine with his eventual game winner 1:20 later by finding the back of the net at 6:40, his second goal of the season. The guests once again battled back, as a goal by Blake Steenerson at 14:59 made it 4-3. The Black Bears did a great job of pinning UVM in their own zone over the last five minutes, not allowing them to pull their goaltender Keenan Rancier for an extra attacker until there was less than 10 seconds left which was too little too late.

Luke Antonacci had two assists in the Maine win. Sully Scholle, Brandon Chabrier, David Breazeale, and Oskar Komarov provided one assist each. They went 0-1 on the powerplay. Albin Boija made 25 saves to help sweep the weekend series. Jellus had one goal and one assist in the loss for Vermont. Rancier had 37 stops between the pipes. The Catamounts went 0-2 on the powerplay, falling to 11-18-3 and 6-14-2 in Hockey East. Maine (21-6-5, 13-4-5) is still in contention for the regular season league title, as they have 48 points with two games left. Boston College remains in first and has 52 points, but has just a single game remaining (3/8 @ 1 p.m. vs Merrimack). The Black Bears are at UMass next Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday night (7:30 p.m.). Maine honored six players on Friday that played their final regular season home game- Harrison Scott, Ross Mitton, Taylor Makar, Lynden Breen, Nolan Renwick, and Breazeale.

Maine men's basketball clinches #3 seed with last second win over UMass-Lowell. Will host the Riverhawks again on Saturday in the conference quarterfinals

A free throw by Jaden Clayton with 18 seconds left in the second half ended up being the game winner, as Maine men's basketball squeezed past UMass-Lowell 71-70 in the regular season finale at Memorial Gymnasium on Skip Chappelle Court in Orono on Tuesday night. 

Both teams held a first half lead but not by more than five points, with the hosts holding a 29-27 advantage at the break led by Kellen Tynes who had 12 points and five steals in the opening 20 minutes. UML grabbed the biggest lead of the night at six points with 11:14 left to play 51-45, before the Black Bears jumped back in front 57-55 with a 12-4 run capped off by a Clayton driving layup 3:28 later. The lead be would swapped four times over the final 7:46. Quinton Mincey made it 70-68 Riverhawks with 1:25 remaining, but AJ Lopez tied it 26 seconds later. A steal by Tynes with 40 seconds showing on the clock would lead to a foul on the ensuing possession. Clayton hit the front end of a 1 and 1 at the line, and then 14 seconds later Tynes came up with another steal and was fouled. Tynes missed the front end of a 1 and 1, but a last second three-pointer on the other end by Mincey hit the side of the rim and bounced off as time expired to allow Maine to escape with the victory and a regular season sweep over UMass-Lowell.

Quion Burns led Maine in the win with 19 points (7-10 field goals). Tynes finished with 14 points, eight steals, and two assists. Clayton ended up with 10 points and six assists. Lopez and Logan Carey both contributed nine points. Mincey had a game-high 26 points in the loss for UMass-Lowell to lead five players in double figures. Mincey shot 10-13 from the floor and was 4-6 from three-point range. The Riverhawks end their regular season at 17-14 and 6-10 in America East, a #6 finish in conference play. Maine (18-13, 10-6) is the #3 seed with the most wins in league play since the 2009-10 season when they won 11 games.

Maine and UMass-Lowell meet for a third time on Saturday night, this time in the America East quarterfinals at 6 p.m. in Orono. It is the first home playoff game for the Black Bears since 1995.

Blauenfeldt helps Maine win their 10th straight quarterfinal game, pulling away from NJIT in Orono. The Black Bears to travel to Albany to take on the Great Danes in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Monday night 

Transfer junior guard Asta Blauenfeldt led three players in double figures by scoring a game-high 22 points on Thursday night, as #4 seeded Maine pulled away to defeat the #5 New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders 65-51 in the America East women's basketball quarterfinals at Memorial Gymnasium on Skip Chappelle Court in Orono. It is the 10th straight win for the Black Bears in the quarterfinal round. 

Blauenfeldt put in 13 points in the first half, as Maine never trailed taking a 31-23 halftime lead. The Black Bears also held NJIT leading scorer Alejandra Zuniga to just one field goal (1-7) and two points in the opening 20 minutes. Zuniga was averaging 23 points per game in the two games between the teams in the regular season, including a 26 point effort in a 61-56 Highlanders win in New Jersey on February 6th. The guests came alive in the third quarter, using an 11-2 run capped off by a three-pointer by Marissa Gingrich to take their only lead of the night at 34-33. Maine restored their advantage for good when Sera Hodgson nailed one from long distance 21 seconds later. The hosts pulled away in the fourth with the first seven points of the period to extend the lead back to 10, and cruised the rest of the way by outscoring NJIT 27-16 over the final 10 minutes. 

Blauenfeldt (9-14 field goals, 3-4 three-pointers) added nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals to her game-high point total in the win for Maine. Caroline Bornemann filled up the stat sheet with 15 points, seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Hodgdon finished with 11 points, while Caroline Dotsey chipped in six points and five rebounds off the bench. The Black Bears shot 10-16 from the floor in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. Zuniga scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half in the loss for NJIT, also contributing five rebounds and four assists. Olivia Kulyk had 12 points, as the Highlanders season ends with a record of 11-19. Maine is now 15-15 and will travel to New York on Monday at 6:30 p.m. to battle top seeded Albany (25-5) in the semifinals. The Great Danes won both regular season meetings over the Black Bears, 60-55 on their home court on January 11th and 56-40 in Orono on February 20th.

Whitehead homerun in the eighth inning leads Maine baseball past Bucknell

Payton Whitehead hit a two-out, two-run homerun in the top of the eighth inning on Friday afternoon, as Maine spoiled the home opener for Bucknell with a 3-2 victory in non-conference baseball action at Eugene B. Depew Field in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Bucknell broke though in a scoreless game in the sixth inning on a Tyler Dunn RBI single, and a second run would come across on an error on the play by Maine rightfielder Zach Martin to make it 2-0 Bison. The Black Bears immediately cut the deficit in half in the seventh when Myles Sargent tripled off the fence in right centerfield, and Quinn Murphy provided an RBI groundout to second base. Brody Rasmussen began the eighth by reaching third on a throwing error by the Bucknell pitcher. It looked like he could be stranded there after Dean O'Neill stuckout and Martin popped to short, but Whitehead came to bat and took a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right down the line for the game winning two-run homer. Maine stranded the tying run for the Bison at second base in each of the last two at bats for the hosts to hold on for the win and snap a four game losing streak. Whitehead and Sargent had two hits each to pace the offense. Colin Fitzgerald (2-2) delivered a solid outing on the mound to get the win allowing one earned run on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work. Sebastian Holt picked up his first save by firing the final 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Maine (3-8) and Bucknell (5-5) will play game two of their series on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Maine softball drops both games on the first day of the Bulldog Invitational 

The Maine softball team lost both games on day one of the Bulldog Invitational in New Haven, Connecticut on Friday, falling to Sacred Heart 7-0 and to the hosts from Yale 6-2.

Nora Campo provided the only Black Bear runs on the day with a two-run homer in game two, while Immie Gie had a hit in each contest. Madison Simmerman lost in the circle against Sacred Heart allowing four runs on five hits in 4.2 innings, while Alysen Rieth was tagged for six runs (three earned) on seven hits in 6.0 innings in the defeat to Yale. Maine is 2-13 in the early season under first year head coach Kimberly Stiles. They will play both the Pioneers and Bulldogs once again Saturday afternoon.

Maine throttled by UMass, clinching the regular season Hockey East Title and the #1 seed in the conference playoffs for Boston College

The #16 UMass Minutemen scored three times in the first period Friday night, and cruised past #5 Maine 5-1 in men's Hockey East action at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Minutemen pressured right from the first drop of the puck, and a tip-in by Cole O'Hara past Albin Boija at 2:52 of the first period got things going. Kenny Connors would strike on the powerplay at 7:09 to double the lead on a shot that deflected off a Maine defender in front. Brandon Holt had a breakaway on a 4 on 4 situation later in the stanza to try to get the Black Bears on the board, but was turned away by UMass netminder Michael Hrabel. The hosts scored again with 40 seconds left in the stanza on a rebound marker from Jack Musa as the rout was on. The Minutemen had the only tally of the second on a goal from Joey Musa, before Charlie Russell got the only one on the night for Maine at 4:19 of the third period. Right after a Black Bears powerplay ended, O'Hara drove to the net and beat Boija for the his second score of the evening unassisted at 11:34. 

Nolan Renwick picked up an assist on the goal by Russell in the Maine loss. The Black Bears went 0-4 on the powerplay. Boija ended up with 27 saves. Along with the two goals by O'Hara, UMass got single assists from Lucas Olvestad, Lucas Mercuri, Aydar Suniev, Francesco Dell'Elce, and Bo Cosman. Hrabel made 38 stops in net, and the Minutemen went 1-3 on the powerplay in improving to 19-12-4 and 10-9-4 in Hockey East. Maine falls to 21-7-5 and 13-5-5 in the conference, and after entering the weekend with a chance at that regular season title and #1 seed they are officially now set in the #2 spot. The teams play the regular season finale on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

Maine takes advantage of a ninth inning error, gets strong pitching performance from Leys in non-conference baseball win at Bucknell

Caleb Leys pitched 6.0 perfect innings before exiting on Saturday afternoon, and Maine scored four times in the ninth inning including three on a two-out error to beat Bucknell 4-1 in non-conference baseball action in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The lefthanded junior Leys threw 79 pitches, didn't walk anyone, and stuckout nine in his perfect outing. Gianni Gambardella came on in the seventh inning to keep the game scoreless, before Tyler Dunn greeted him with a leadoff solo homerun in the eighth to make it 1-0 Bucknell. In the last at bat for Maine, Will Burns was hit by a pitch to lead off. After two were retired, Chris Bear and Drew Reynolds both drew walks to load the bases. Brody Rasmussen was next up and hit the first pitch he saw to center that was misplayed by Bison centerfielder Billy Fluharty, allowing three runs to score unearned. Dean O'Neill followed and added on with an RBI single to left, and Sebastian Holt came on the bottom half and set Bucknell down in order to pick up his second save in as many days. Gambardella (1-0) got credited with the win in relief. The Maine pitching staff in two games in the series have only allowed two earned runs and two walks, while striking out 21 batters in 18 innings. The Black Bears (4-8) will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.