Reigning America East Rookie of the Year Anne Simon scored a game-high 16 points on Friday night as the University of Maine swept its trip to the Ocean State with a 61-47 victory over the University of Rhode Island at South Kingston.
UMaine has now won 12 straight games dating back to last season. The Rams fell to 0-4.
The Black Bears beat Providence College 62-48 in Thursday’s season opener.
Simon, a guard from Luxembourg, also contributed seven rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Black Bears, who were without injured forwards Fanny Wadling and Maeve Carroll. Senior guard Dor Saar tossed in 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
Blanca Millan, who poured in 30 points on Thursday, was held to just two first-half points Friday but nailed a 3-pointer to open the third period and extend UMaine’s lead to 33-22. UMaine outscored URI 18-9 in the quarter to build a comfortable 48-31 lead.
Millan finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two assists. It was her second game back after suffering a season-ending knee injury six games into last season.
Saar, who was second in America East with 4.9 assists per game last winter, dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds. She shot 4-for-8 from the 3-point arc.
Sophomore forward Abbe Laurence matched Thursday’s performance with another 10 points and added two assists. She also missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Freshman guard Alba Orois from Spain provided nine points and four assists.
Emmanuelle Tahane was URI’s only double-digit scorer with 11 points. She also logged six rebounds and two assists.
Catherine Cairns contributed nine points and three rebounds, Yanni Hendley scored eight points and Johanna Muzet chipped in with four points, nine rebounds and four steals.
UMaine forced 17 turnovers and transformed them into 20 points. URI scored only eight points off 13 UMaine turnovers.
UMaine shot 46.8 percent from the floor compared to URI’s 38.3 percent and the Black Bears outrebounded URI 30-28.