DURHAM, New Hampshire — The New Hampshire Wildcats outscored the Maine Black Bears 9-0 in the last 3 minutes, 31 seconds of the first half and went on to post a 61-47 America East women’s basketball victory in a regular-season finale Sunday at Lundholm Gymnasium.
UNH snapped Maine’s 14-game winning streak, but the Black Bears had already clinched the top seed for this weekend’s league tourney entering the game and will open the quarterfinals when they take on tourney host and No. 8 Binghamton at noon Saturday in New York.
No. 4 UNH battles No. 5 Hartford in the second game, followed by No. 2 Albany vs. No. 7 Vermont, and No. 3 Stony Brook vs. No. 6 UMBC.
If Maine advances, it takes on the UNH-Hartford winner at 2 p.m. Sunday. A semifinal victory would put the Bears at home in the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor for the league championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
To do so, the Bears will have to muster a better shooting effort than they did against the Wildcats on Sunday, as they hit only 35 percent of their field goals (21 of 61) and allowed the Wildcats to convert 52.2 percent (24 of 46). Maine was also just 0 for 1 at the free-throw line.
Carlie Pogue paced UNH (17-11, 9-7 AE) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Elizabeth Belanger added 18 points.
Liz Wood sparked Maine (22-7, 14-2 AE) with 19 points while Sigi Koizar chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds.
Wood’s basket with 3:31 left in the first half would be the final one of the half for the Bears as the Wildcats rattled off nine unanswered points with Pogue scoring six points, four from the line.
UNH maintained mostly an eight-point cushion in the second half, but Maine did manage to cut it to 38-34 when Wood hit a 3-pointer with 13-10 left.
The Wildcats responded by outscoring the Black Bears 9-4 over the next five minutes and Maine never got closer than eight for the game’s remainder.