The University of Maine women’s basketball team erased a 13-point deficit, rallying to take a three-point lead with 2:45 remaining in a showdown between the league’s top two teams in Hartford. However, the Hawks would end the game on a 6-0 run to take a 49-46 victory on Wednesday evening at Reich Family Pavilion in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Tanesha Sutton’s free throw with 2:45 on the clock put the Black Bears up by three late. Four free throws and a layup put the Hawks on top by three with 10-seconds remaining in regulation. The Black Bears had two looks from three-point range in the closing seconds but were unable to get the shot to fall.
Fanny Wadling tallied her third career double-double, finishing with 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Dor Saar added a team-high 13 points with a trio of three-point field goals while Blanca Millan finished with nine points and five steals.
Lindsey Abed’s game-high 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals paced Hartford with Ella Awobajo contributing 13 points and five rebounds.
Millan, the conference’s leading scorer with her 17.7 points per game average entering the game, was limited to just 24 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble. She fouled out with 14 seconds remaining in the game.
Sutton, the team’s second-leading scorer, apparently sustained a leg injury and missed the game’s final three minutes.
“Not having Blanca for long stretches of the game and not having Tanesha at the end of the game was tough,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon to radio play-by-play man Don Shields. “But I’m proud of our team. Hartford is a really good team. We’ll be alright.
“Fanny had an outstanding game,” she added.
UMaine was held to just six points in the second quarter and 17 in the first half as Hartford built a 28-17 lead at the intermission.
UMaine shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first half and 33.3 percent for the game.
The Black Bears controlled the glass, holding a 38-20 advantage on the boards including a commanding 15-2 edge on the offensive glass.
Hartford shot 11-for-23 in the opening half, holding Maine to six points in the second quarter and an 0-for-9 performance from three-point range over the opening 20-minutes. The Hawks used the shooting advantage to build a 28-17 lead after two.
Maine came out of the break with a new energy, outscoring the Hawks by a 22-12 margin in the third to claw its way back into the contest.
After Hartford took its largest lead of the game, a 13-point advantage early in the third, Maine responded with a 10-0 run. A pair of jumpers from Rossignol ignited the comeback before back-to-back triples from Saar cut the lead to three.
Maine kept charging. After Hartford ran the lead back to six, the Black Bears responded with a 5-0 run. Saar’s third triple of the period trimmed the deficit all the way down to one with 5:49 left in the quarter.
The Hawks rebuilt their lead to four late in the third but UMaine again had the answer. A 5-0 run, with all points coming from Millan, gave Maine a one-point lead as the junior stuck a three-pointer with 1:32 left in the third to put Maine up, 39-38.
Hartford nabbed a two point advantage with five minutes remaining before the Black Bears put together a short 4-0 run. Wadling gave Maine a 43-42 advantage before a steal from Millan led to another bucket from Wadling, extending Maine’s lead to three with 3:28 on the clock.
Wadling’s offensive board late in the quarter led to Sutton drawing a foul. The senior would hit one of two, giving Maine a 46-43 edge.
However, Hartford would end the game on a 6-0 run as the Black Bears went 0-for-4 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the free throw line in final 2:30.
Sierra DaCosta sank a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 46-45 with 1:11 left, Jade Young’s layup off a Jabria Ingram gave Hartford the lead for good with 28 seconds remaining and Abed added two free throws with 10 seconds remaining.
Maine continues America East road action on Saturday when it travels to Stony Brook for a 2 p.m. game.