Tanesha Sutton scored a career-high 16 points and the University of Maine women’s basketball team subdued East Tennessee State’s fast-paced attack to secure a 61-48 victory over the Buccaneers in the opening round of the Miami Holiday Tournament at Coral Gables, Florida, on Monday.
The win was the fourth straight for coach Richard Barron’s club, now 7-5 and set to face the University of Miami-Coppin State winner for the tournament championship at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
East Tennessee State, which plays out of the Southern Conference, fell to 6-7.
“This was a tough game for us,” said Barron to Learfield Sports announcer Don Shields after the game. “Athletically they’ve got some players and this is the kind of game we’ve struggled with, but we were really good overall at sticking to our game plan.”
Sutton, a 5-foot-10 redshirt sophomore guard from Philadelphia, shook off early foul trouble to make 8 of 11 field-goal tries to go with six rebounds and three assists. She scored six of her points during the fourth quarter to help fend off an ETSU comeback bid.
Senior guard Sigi Koizar added 12 points, five assists and five rebounds for the Black Bears, who also got a big game off the bench from 6-foot-3 freshman forward Anita Kelava. The Zagreb, Croatia, product contributed 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting along with six rebounds and four blocked shots in 25 minutes.
Six of Kelava’s points also came after ETSU pulled within 45-41 early in the fourth quarter.
“The other thing I was really pleased with was Anita’s play.” said Barron. “Wow, she had a great game. She did a lot of good things out there.”
This victory was forged largely on the defensive end, where UMaine limited ETSU to a 29-percent shooting effort (15-of-52) from the field while inducing 20 Buccaneer turnovers.
ETSU junior guard Tianna Tarter, who began the day averaging 20.7 points per game, was held to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Teammate Shamauria Bridges, who averaged 13 points per game and needed just three 3-pointers to set a school career record in that category, managed just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting with two 3-pointers.
“They wanted to play an up-and-down game and we wouldn’t let them,” said Barron, whose team entered the game allowing only 58.8 points per contest.
UMaine used an 11-0 first-quarter run to move out to a 35-22 halftime lead.
Eight different UMaine players scored during the first half, led by Koizar with seven points and four assists and Sutton and Julie Brosseau with six points each. Kelava added four points, four rebounds and four blocked shots in seven early minutes.
Short jumpers by UMaine freshmen Laia Sole and Blanca Millan snapped a 2-2 tie, then Koizar hit with a jumper before Brosseau came off the bench to bury a 3-pointer and Sutton scored from the paint as the Black Bears’ lead grew to 13-2 while East Tennessee State went 6 minutes, 41 seconds without a field goal.
The lead was 19-9 at the end of the period and was extended to 27-11 when a Kelava block led to a fast-break layup by Koizar and Sutton then followed in her own miss with 6:54 left before intermission.
ETSU narrowed its deficit to 13 by intermission largely at the free-throw line, where the Buccaneers went 6-for-9 during the second quarter.
UMaine maintained a 40-25 advantage on Fanny Wadling’s 3-pointer with 5:59 left in the third quarter, but Tarter finally got untracked as ETSU scored 11 straight points to draw within 40-36.
Tarter scored six straight points, then fed Carley Lytton (12 points) for a 3-pointer before also assisting on Rodriguez’ lone basket of the game.
Tihana Stojsavljevic finally answered to end the Bears’ 4:01 scoreless streak, and a drive during the final seconds of the third period by Sutton gave UMaine a 45-38 edge.
Lytton’s third 3-pointer of the day pulled ETSU within 45-41 with 8:38 left, but Koizar scored on a drive and Sutton worked inside for two more baskets to give UMaine a 51-41 cushion.
Kelava later scored on an offensive rebound and Sutton again scored inside to give UMaine to a 55-44 lead with 3:37 left. ETSU got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“We really rode Tanesha there for a while and she had a terrific game,” said Barron. “Those were some big points.”
