Friday’s snowstorm caused a lengthy delay in the University of Maine women’s basketball team’s trip to Baltimore.
The Black Bears’ scheduled 12:20 p.m. flight out of Bangor was delayed for more than nine hours. And even though UMaine didn’t arrive at its Baltimore hotel until 1:30 a.m. — less than 12 hours prior to Saturday’s scheduled 1 p.m. tipoff — coach Richard Barron’s team did not miss a beat.
UMaine built a 14-point, first-quarter lead and used stifling defense to register a 72-38 America East victory over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County at RAC Arena on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a veteran group and we’ve been through a lot of travel issues already this year, so it wasn’t something that fazed them,” Barron said. “We just kind of rolled with the punches.”
Senior forward Bella Swan went 10-for-13 from the field on her way to a game-high 21 points and also contributed five rebounds, three assists and a steal to propel UMaine (18-7, 9-1 AE) to its sixth straight win.
Friday’s delays resulted in a couple of improvised team meals.
“We went back into the terminal, we called and ordered some food to be delivered to the airport and sat around for a couple hours,” Barron explained. “At 5:30 we boarded again and we went through several times of de-icing, trying to take off, not taking off, re-fueling, de-icing.”
UMaine’s flight eventually departed the Bangor International Airport gate at 7:42 p.m., but did not take off until approximately 9:30 and finally landed in Washington at 11:06 p.m.
“After we got our bags and on the bus, we had to eat because we’d been sitting on the plane since 5:30 and we hadn’t eaten,” Barron said. “We got to the hotel at 1:30 (a.m.). It was a long day.”
Barron explained that UMaine not only missed its Friday practice, but also skipped its 7 a.m. session on Saturday.
“We were pretty locked in about what we needed to do and the kids played really well,” Barron said.
Junior guard Sigi Koizar posted 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals while senior forward Liz Wood contributed 10 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Black Bears. Chantel Charles handed out a game-best six assists.
UMaine limited the Retrievers (13-10, 4-6 AE) to 28 percent shooting (14-for-50) while connecting at 48 percent (31-for-64) itself. The Bears also helped for 20 UMBC turnovers that led to 25 points at the other end.
UMaine outscored the hosts 34-20 in the paint.
Taylor McCarley led UMBC with 14 points but committed six turnovers in the contest. The Retrievers had only seven assists compared to 24 by UMaine.
The Black Bears established a bit of cushion with an 11-3 run to end the first quarter. With UMaine already up 11-7, Swan made a layup and Mikaela Gustafsson hit a jumper, then Lauren Bodine connected on a 3-pointer that made it 18-7.
The Retrievers broke the surge with a McCarley foul shot, but Charles and Koizar scored layups off UMBC turnovers to make it 22-8 late in the period.
UMaine expanded its 31-18 halftime edge with a 12-2 burst during the first six minutes of the third quarter. Swan scored five points during that stretch as the Black Bears pulled out to a 43-20 advantage at the 4:10 mark.
The visitors later led by as many as 37 points.
UMaine remains one game behind three-time defending champion Albany, which handled Vermont on Saturday, in the conference standings. The Bears return to action with Monday’s 7 p.m. Play4Kay fundraiser game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.