SMITHFIELD, R.I. — The offensive struggles continued Monday night for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.
The Black Bears missed 20 consecutive field-goal attempts during a drought of almost 15½ minutes that spanned both halves and turned the ball over 22 times overall, helping Bryant University escape with a 44-40 nonleague victory.
Coach Richard Barron’s team (1-9) lost for the sixth consecutive game and could not solve its continued offensive woes.
“The difference in not just this game, but the last three games, has been the other teams have made layups and free throws and we’ve missed wide-open layups and free throws,” Barron said. “It’s hard to recover from that.”
The Bears shot 16-for-57 (28 percent) from the floor and went only 3-for-8 from the foul line, but did grab a 44-38 rebounding edge.
Bryant (4-4) of the Northeast Conference overcame some inefficiency of its own. The Bulldogs shot only 32 percent from the field overall and missed all 16 of their 3-point attempts.
The hosts committed 20 turnovers, but they were able to answer a couple of second-half challenges by the Bears. Bryant also scored 20 points after UMaine turnovers.
Naana Ankoma-Mensa led Bryant with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Courtney Schissler contributed eight points and three steals. Danielle Douglas added nine points and five boards.
Freshman guard Milica Mitrovic tossed in a career-high 12 points to pace UMaine, while classmate Anna Heise provided 10 points. Sophomore Courtney Anderson of Greene netted seven points with five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Ashleigh Roberts added nine rebounds, three assists and two steals, but was plagued by foul trouble.
“We had 17 offensive rebounds and we had five second-chance points,” Barron offered.
UMaine led by as many as seven points in the first half, using a 9-4 run to go on top 25-18. Mitrovic made a layup off an offensive rebound early in the spurt and buried a 3-pointer at the 7:28 mark to cap it.
However, the Bears went scoreless for the rest of the half.
Not only did UMaine miss its last 11 shots of the period and commit six turnovers during the same span, the Bears missed their first nine shots of the second half.
Heise ended the woes with a layup with 12:05 remaining.
“We score 25 points in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the game and we score 15 points the rest of the game. And we still had a chance to win the game,” Barron said.
“We played well enough to win the game. We just missed easy shots,” he added, comparing the mental aspect of shooting to a baseball second baseman who develops the “yips” and can’t make accurate throws to first base.
The Bulldogs held a 27-26 edge at halftime after taking advantage of the Bears’ turnover and shooting woes, but they weren’t able to gain the upper hand until late in the second half.
Danielle Walczak’s layup with 6:42 left cut Bryant’s lead to 36-35, but Breanna Rucker answered with a basket of her own, then made another layup. Ankoma-Mensa closed out a 6-0 spurt with a close-range hoop that made it 42-35 with 3:48 to play.
The Bears eventually got within two at 42-40 on a Mitrovic layup with 1:03 left, but UMaine couldn’t capitalize after a turnover when Mitrovic missed a 3-pointer.
The rebound went out of bounds off a Bryant player and the Bears had another chance, but Roberts’ jumper missed with nine seconds left and the Bulldogs hit two foul shots to ice it.
“At times we executed well, even at the end of the game,” Barron said. “We missed a wide-open 3 in the corner and a wide-open shot under the basket on an out-of-bounds play.”
I think the Black Bears will get there. Barron is right, I believe, that it is a confidence issue. Whatever he can do to get them believing they will win, they do have the talent to still have a very respectable season. I think that Coach Barron is getting a better sense of his players, and evaluating more objectively the strengths and weaknesses of individuals as the season progresses.
A lot of sports is mental, especially when you’ve been through the preparation and need only to execute at a higher level of one’s ability. The x’s and o’s get you (only) so far. If Barron can get through to the team these winning intangibles, it will be reflected in their play going forward.
I applaud your attitude,Alex, but I don’t see what you are placing it in. This team has not played well thus far this season, and I don’t see any indication that they will improve. Confidence in competition is generated by playing well, and winning. This team has failed in both areas. I will be surprised if they win a handful of games down the stretch, which, considering the cost associated with the recruitment of these players, would be at the very least – disappointing, if not outright unacceptable.
They seem to be in need of a leader on the floor…last year it was Baranowski. I saw the Siena game on cable…even when they were up by 14 they didn’t look good… poor communication…no cohesiveness. Their timeouts seemed wasted and substitutions seemed untimely. At times it appeared the players were intimidated … afraid to make mistakes.
Good analysis. They do seem snake bit for sure. Ashleigh is a leader, the leader if she is allowed to be. Coach Barron does need to rein her in a little bit at times if he is going to emphasize the ball movement offense, which I think is good and has a lot of potential with this team. However, Ashleigh is the complete package and by far the most talented player on the team. Aside from being foul prone, which keeps her off the court and Barron also sometimes seems to bench her, Ashleigh is the best scorer (the only one also by far who can truly successfully create her own shot), with great ball and body control (she has some turnovers but mostly because she tries tougher passes etc and more drives), she’s great at steals, decent with assists, phenomenal rebounder for a guard. She has an instinctive and heady understanding of the game.
Thank you very much. The team was playing much more confidently earlier in the year, holding their own for the most part against very talented teams. The losses seem to be cumulatively weighing on their psyche, as now they are playing down to a lower caliber of opponent that they are facing as compared to the earlier foes. Winning does breed confidence but more generally knowing that you are good breeds confidence as well. There is more than one way to get there.
UMaine winter sports are now 7-39-3 vs. D-1 competition.
last win was mid November. Next win will be against winless Binhamton Jan 20. That’s a long 2 mos w/o a win
mmmm norstrajimus wasnt that your hero?? BARRON????