University of Maine women’s basketball coach Amy Vachon wasn’t fooled by Saturday’s 81-49 America East victory over UMass Lowell. She knew Sunday afternoon’s game would be much tighter.
The Black Bears survived a scoreless drought of 4 minutes, 41 seconds in the fourth quarter and overcame two deficits over the final 3 1/2 minutes to edge the scrappy River Hawks 53-51 on Seniors Day at Memorial Gym in Orono.
UMaine (14-1 overall, 11-1 AE) won its ninth straight game while UMass Lowell fell to 9-8 and 8-6, respectively.
The sweep sets up next weekend’s series at second-place Stony Brook (10-4, 8-2 AE) with the conference regular-season championship on the line. Defending regular-season champ Stony Brook didn’t play this weekend.
UMaine, which had won back-to-back America East titles prior to last season, was set to play Stony Brook in the 2020 league championship game, but it was canceled because of COVID-19.
Fifth-year senior Blanca Millan poured in a game-high 27 points on Sunday. She gave the Black Bears the lead for good (52-51) when she hit two free throws with 1:44 remaining.
Both teams turned the ball over and missed shots before UMass Lowell got it back with 35 seconds left after an Anne Simon turnover. But Millan stole the ball 20 seconds later and Dor Saar was fouled.
However, Saar missed both free throws and UMass Lowell got the rebound, but Fanny Wadling stole the ball and was fouled with 1.6 seconds left. She made one foul shot.
The River Hawks called timeout and set up a final play, and Millan blocked Kharis Idom’s potential, game-winning 3-pointer to end the game.
“Blanca is Blanca,” Vachon said. “She really put us on her back and carried us. And I was really proud of this team for squeaking out the win.”
Vachon acknowledged that Millan’s last-second block could have been called a foul and was glad it wasn’t.
UMaine led 46-37 with 8:12 to play but didn’t score again until Millan sank two free throws with 3:31 left to tie it 48-48.
Kaylen Banwareesingh and Simon swapped baskets before Denise Solis’ free throw with 2:05 left supplied the River Hawks with their final lead and last point of the game.
“If you’re not scoring, you’ve got to try to keep them from scoring,” Vachon said.
She also praised the River Hawks for their performance.
“Kudos to Lowell. In many ways, they deserved to win the game. They made a lot of big plays. [Saturday] wasn’t typical of their team,” Vachon said.
She applauded UMaine’s defensive effort and rebounding but noted that her team didn’t shoot well.
UMaine shot 31.4 percent from the floor, its second worst showing of the season behind only its 29.9 percent effort in the Jan. 2 loss at New Hampshire.
UMaine outrebounded UMass Lowell 39-37.
The Black Bears clamped down in the second half on Denise Solis, holding her to five points after she scored 12 in the first half. UMaine fronted her in the second half.
UMaine’s five seniors — Millan, Saar, Maeve Carroll, Wadling and Kelly Fogarty — were recognized before the game.
“[Seniors Night is] “a tough night to play. There are so many emotions. I lost on my Senior Day and [assistant coach Courtney England] lost on hers,” Vachon said.
Millan contributed eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks to go with her 27 points. Saar added nine points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Simon had eight points and four rebounds, Wadling finished with five points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Carroll added four points, five rebounds and two assists.
“Fanny played a great game. She did a ton of things for us,”Vachon said.
Solis paced UML with 17 points, a game-high 11 rebounds and three assists. Jaliena Sanchez produced eight points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists while Idom and Jaini Edmond each posted eight points and three rebounds each. Banwareesingh had eight rebounds, two steals and two points.