Freshman forward Laia Sole poured in a game-high 16 points and the University of Maine women’s basketball survived a poor shooting night by forcing 26 turnovers en route to a 59-43 victory over Saint Peter’s University (N.J.) in their Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge tourney opener in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday.
UMaine improved to 2-2 while Saint Peter’s fell to 0-2.
The Black Bears scored 26 points off turnovers while Saint Peter’s had only two as UMaine turned the ball over just seven times. They also outscored the Peacocks 30-12 in the paint.
Blanca Millan had nine points and six of UMaine’s 14 steals and Tanesha Sutton contributed eight points, a team-high nine rebounds, six assists and a blocked shot. Sigi Koizar had eight rebounds and three steals and freshman Naira Caceres had seven rebounds and four points.
The Black Bears also received six points, two rebounds and two steals from Fanny Wadling and six rebounds from senior Sheraton Jones in 15 minutes of playing time.
UMaine shot just 35.5 percent (22-for-62) from the floor, 20 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (4-for-20) and 57.0 percent from the free throw line (11-19).
“It’s nice to win without having a great shooting night,” said UMaine coach Richard Barron. “We did some things well. We didn’t shoot well.
“We took care of the ball and our shot selection was good even if the execution wasn’t that good,” added Barron. “Our transition defense was better, we executed in the half-court offense reasonably well and we did some good things in the match-up zone, even more so after halftime.”
Saint Peter’s went 5-for-8 from behind the three-point arc in the first half but UMaine’s matchup zone limited the Peacocks to a 1-for-6 showing in the second half.
He credited Sutton with doing a “lot of good things for us” including hunting down loose balls.
“She brought great energy to the game,” added Barron.
UMaine led 32-25 at the half but Sutton triggered a string of eight unanswered points to start the second half with a short jump shot.
Millan hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 37-25 and Sutton finished off a nice give-and-go with Sole before Millan’s free throw capped the spurt.
But the Black Bears went nearly six minutes without scoring and that enabled the Peacocks to pull within 40-31 before freshman Julie Brosseau’s 3-pointer broke the drought.
UMaine took a 43-34 lead into the fourth quarter and promptly went on a 10-3 run to pull away.
Koizar nailed a 3-pointer, Sole had a traditional 3-pointer and Sutton and Millan also contributed baskets.
Alyssa Velles had 12 points for the Peacocks on four 3-pointers. Talah Hughes had 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Sammy Lochner contributed seven points and three assists and Sajanna Bethea finished with five points and seven rebounds.
Saint Peter’s outrebounded UMaine 41-35.
UMaine will take on No. 4 South Carolina at 7 p.m. Monday.