The University of Maine women’s basketball team pushed its winning streak to nine games on Saturday afternoon, rattling off an 18-0 run in the first quarter and rolling to a 78-43 victory over the New Jersey Institute of Technology at the Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.
UMaine is now 15-10 overall, 12-3 in America East while NJIT fell to 13-12 and 8-6 after having its three-game winning streak snapped.
UMaine stays unbeaten on the road in league play (9-0).
UMaine remains half a game ahead of Albany (12-4 in America East) in the race for the top seed for the conference tournament. The two teams will meet in Albany on Wednesday night and the Black Bears would clinch the top seed with a victory.
Graduate student forward Maeve Carroll led the way for the Black Bears with 20 points and 12 rebounds, her fourth double-double in six games. It is the 11th time this season the league’s rebound leader has pulled down 10 or more rebounds.
Carroll also had seven assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
Sophomore point guard Alba Orois, the league’s assists leader, continued to produce double-digit point totals with 18. It is the sixth straight game Orois has scored in double digits.
Orois dished out seven assists and made three steals.
Junior guard and league scoring leader Anne Simon scored in double figures for the 18th straight game with 13. She also had six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Caroline Bornemann and Paula Gallego each contributed seven points and three rebounds.
Ari Myers and Ellyn Stoll had nine points each for the Highlanders. Lyzi Litwinko had six points, two rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots and Kenna Squier had five points and four rebounds.
Squier had 24 points and Stoll had 16 in NJIT’s 67-59 overtime win over UMaine at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on Jan. 2.
UMaine shot 48.4 percent from the floor (30-for-62) including a 56.3 showing (9-for-16) beyond the 3-point arc. NJIT was 30.4 percent from the floor (14-for-46) and 26.3 percent from long range (5-19).
UMaine forced 20 turnovers and had a 25-7 edge in points off turnovers. UMaine also held a 34-18 edge in points in the paint and a 14-6 advantage in second-chance points.
UMaine’s decisive 18-0 run began with jump shots from Carroll and Gallego before Simon hit a three to make it 9-3.
Olivia Rockwood converted a traditional three-point play before Orois hit a jumper and a three and Simon capped the surge with a three.
NJIT missed five field goal attempts and four free throws and turned the ball over twice during UMaine’s 18-0 spurt.
NJIT never got closer than 14 the rest of the way and UMaine built a 31-4 lead at one stage.
America East leader Stony Brook can’t compete in the league tournament because it is leaving for the Colonial Athletic Association after this season and a bylaw forbids a departing team from participating in conference championships.