BANGOR, Maine — The University of Maine women’s basketball team finally had a chance last week to get in some quality practice time. The work the Black Bears put in after a taxing stretch of games, paid off on Saturday afternoon.
Coach Richard Barron’s team played active defense and executed crisply at the offensive end while registering a lopsided 76-38 victory over Bryant University at the Cross Insurance Center.
“I think it was really good for us just to be able to focus on ourselves for a couple practices,” said senior guard/forward Liz Wood. “When you’re playing games back to back to back it’s always who’s next, working on scout, which is important. I think it was a big difference for us today to be able to work on just what we do well and really focus on what we’re looking for from ourselves. I think it showed today.”
It was the largest margin of victory for UMaine against a Division I opponent since a 110-68 win over Drexel in 1997.
UMaine (8-4) has semester exams next week and must prepare for a Dec. 18 home contest against Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Junior guard Sigi Koizar and Wood were the catalysts for the Black Bears, who shot 58 percent (33-for-57) from the field. Koizar finished with a game-high 18 points and Wood registered 15 points, four rebounds and six steals.
Sophie Weckstrom tallied 10 points and Chantel Charles added seven points and four rebounds.
“Today everything was clicking, we weren’t forcing anything, we were good defensively,” Barron said.
“If we play like we played today, I think every game’s winnable,” he added.
UMaine outscored Bryant (2-7) 38-16 in the paint and tallied 27 points as the result of 25 turnovers by the Bulldogs of the Northeast Conference.
Breanna Rucker led Bryant with eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Alex Klein provided six points and six rebounds.
Bryant, working mostly against UMaine’s 2-3 matchup zone, clanged its way to 28 percent shooting (13-for-47). The Bulldogs were 1-for-16 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“We knew coming into this game that they did score a lot of their points from the 3-point line and they also scored a lot from the high-low looks,” Wood said. “So it was really important for the guards to have ball pressure and for us to be denying high post.”
The Black Bears didn’t wait around to assert themselves, manufacturing a 43-20 halftime advantage. UMaine disrupted Bryant’s offensive efforts and helped force several of the Bulldogs’ 13 turnovers.
The Black Bears executed crisply, scoring 16 points in the paint on the way to 19-for-29 (66 percent) shooting.
UMaine pulled in front with a 16-0 first-quarter run. Wood kicked off the spurt with a basket on a cut through the paint off a Mikaela Gustafsson pass, then scored a transition layup thanks to a Koizar feed.
Koizar sandwiched a 3-pointer and a reverse baseline layup around a low-post basket by Bella Swan, then Wood converted an up-and-under move and Lauren Bodine drained a 3-pointer to make it 20-5 with 1:20 to play in the quarter.
“I think we executed really well and we remained patient and within the play,” Koizar said of the UMaine offense. “That’s something that we’ve been talking about that we didn’t do well in the past couple games.”
The Bears eventually extended the lead to 23 points as the Bulldogs’ turnovers played a key role in their struggle to score consistently.
UMaine, which has encountered some third-quarter lulls in recent games, maintained its focus and intensity during the second half this time.
“This is one where we won every quarter,” Barron said. “I don’t think there was any dropoff when we were substituting.”