HANOVER, New Hampshire — The University of Maine held Dartmouth College to just one point in the game’s first eight minutes and went on to record a 59-41 women’s basketball victory at Leede Arena Sunday.
The Black Bears shut down the Big Green offense, holding them to a 16-of-57 shooting effort (28.1 percent) from the field while Maine hit 21 of 47 (44.7 percent) of its shots.
Mikaela Gustafsson paced Maine (7-4) with a career-high 18 points and also grabbed nine rebounds. She scored 12 first-half points. Sigi Koizar chipped in with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Liz Wood contributed with seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while Bella Swan added eight points and nine rebounds.
Maine outrebounded Dartmouth 36-34.
Lakin Roland paced Dartmouth (1-7) with 19 points and nine rebounds.
The Black Bears surged to 26-12 lead at halftime, but the Big Green rallied to outscore the Black Bears 21-12 in the third quarter to cut the lead 38-33.
Dartmouth stayed on a roll at the start of the fourth quarter as Roland and Olivia Smith hit back-to-back layups to cut Maine’s lead to 38-37 with 7:46 left in the game.
The Black Bears responded by outscoring the Big Green 21-4 over the last 7:46 of the game to secure the win. Swan sparked the surge with a jumper and scored six points during the run. Koizar and Gustafsson added to the surge with five points apiece.
The Black Bears return home for a 1 p.m. Saturday contest against Bryant at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.