Princeton University wasted little time disposing of a weary University of Maine women’s basketball team on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers rattled off 21 unanswered points spanning the first and second quarters, holding UMaine scoreless for 7 minutes and 50 seconds, en route to a comfortable 82-43 victory at Jadwin Gym in Princeton, New Jersey.
It was Princeton’s 21st consecutive win at Jadwin Gym, the nation’s fourth-longest home winning streak.
The Tigers, who hadn’t played since Tuesday’s 59-41 win at Temple, are now 5-1. UMaine, which lost in double overtime at Army on Friday 87-81, fell to 2-5 in its last non-conference road game of the season.
UMaine led 4-2 before the preseason Ivy League favorites ripped off their 21-point run to build a 23-4 lead before Maeve Carroll’s traditional 3-point play with 7:51 left in the second quarter ended UMaine’s scoring drought.
UMaine missed six shots and turned the ball over five times during the Princeton run. The Black Bears could never get any closer than 13 the rest of the way and trailed 39-17 at the intermission.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said her team was tired from the Army game coming into the matchup with a program that has played in four NCAA Tournaments since 2015.
“I don’t know if we could have beaten them even if we were on our A game,” she said. “I just wish we had put up more of a fight.”
Senior guard Abby Meyer poured in a game-high 21 points for the winners and she also grabbed five rebounds and dished out two assists. Junior guard Julia Cunningham complemented her with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Grace Stone and Maggie Connolly had 11 points apiece. Stone also had four rebounds and Connolly produced three steals. Paige Morton registered eight points and five rebounds; Kaitlyn Chen added seven points and four rebounds and Ellie Mitchell had six steals, four points and three rebounds.
Graduate student Carroll’s 13 points and five rebounds paced UMaine. Sophomore Alba Orois and freshmen Adrianna Smith and Sera Hodgson had six points apiece. Orois also had thre assists, Smith hauled in five rebounds and Hodgson had three rebounds.
UMaine leading scorer Anne Simon was held to just three points in 21 minutes.
Princeton outrebounded UMaine 35-22, forced 21 turnovers leading to a 23-10 edge in points off turnovers. The Tigers outscored UMaine 17-0 in fast break points and 48-24 in the paint.
UMaine will play again on Saturday when it hosts Drexel at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Game time is noon. The Black Bears will have another week off before taking on Rhode Island on Sunday, Dec. 12 at the Augusta Civic Center. Tipoff is at 1.