BANGOR, Maine — University of Maine women’s basketball coach Richard Barron got what he wanted out of Sunday afternoon’s 74-54 exhibition win over Division II Stonehill College (Mass.) on Sunday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center.
With just one returning starter in All-America East first-team guard Sigi Koizar and eight freshmen, Barron used the game to evaluate his players and their grasp of his system.
After spotting the competitive Skyhawks a 6-0 lead and finding themselves trailing 26-17 in the second period, the Black Bears used a 16-4 run to close out the first half and take the lead for good at 33-30 on a Koizar 3-pointer.
UMaine led just 54-50 with 6:50 left in regulation but Spanish freshman guard Laia Sole scored the next eight points during a stretch in which she had 15 consecutive UMaine points as the Black Bears pulled away.
“We got down but we didn’t hang our heads. We made in-game adjustments, we managed to keep them off the free throw line pretty good, our help (defense) got better and our rotations got much better in the second half,” said Barron. “We showed some fight.”
The 6-foot-2 Sole, who scored a team-high 21 points, attacked the basket with a variety of clever moves and dazzled the crowd of 1,303 with a no-look, baseline pass to Tanesha Sutton for a layup.
“I was very nervous but, yesterday, Sigi gave me some great advice. So, today, I just wanted to play and I was very excited,” Sole said.
Six-foot-one Swedish freshman Fanny Wadling had 11 points and six rebounds and Sutton, a transfer guard from Duquesne University who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, contributed 10 points and three assists.
“When I was first on the floor, I was a little shaky,” said Sutton. “But my teammates and coaches gave me that energy and boost to go out and do what I can do. I got a little more comfortable as the game went along.”
Koizar finished with eight points, four assists and a game-high seven rebounds and Spanish freshman Naira Caceres had six points, a game-high four steals and three assists.
Stonehill standout senior guard Kelly Martin had 25 points, including 17 in the first half, to lead all scorers.
Stonehill freshman Kelsey Shaw and UMaine freshman Sierra Tapley, former Mount Desert Island High School teammates, were on the floor at the end of the game as was Calais’ Maddy McVicar, a sophomore at UMaine.
Shaw had four points and two rebounds in 15 minutes;. McVicar had an assist and a steal in three minutes and Tapley played two minutes.