ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s basketball team received a balanced attack to rattle off its fourth straight win and its eighth in its last nine games in a 66-43 victory over America East newcomer Bryant University at the Memorial Gym Wednesday night.
Sophomore forward Adi Smith had her 12th double-double of the season. She had 14 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Black Bears, who are now 12-9 overall and 8-1 in America East.
Seven Black Bears scored at least five points.
Bryant fell to 7-16 and 1-9, respectively. It was the Bulldogs’ fourth loss in their last five games.
UMaine outscored Bryant 40-22 in the middle two periods to break the game open.
UMaine sophomore guard Sera Hodgson contributed 11 points, three steals and two rebounds and junior guard Olivia Rockwood also had 11 points to go with two assists. Jaycie Christopher had seven points, and Caroline Bornemann and Abbe Laurence had six each. Sarah Talon scored five points.
Laurence and Bornemann each had five rebounds and two assists and Christopher had three rebounds and three assists.
Paula Gallego corralled five rebounds and also had four points and two assists.
UMaine outrebounded Bryant 43-30.
Mariona Planes Fortuny, the conference’s leading scorer with a 16 points per game average, scored a game-high 15 points for Bryant. She also grabbed five rebounds and blocked four shots.
Teammate Alana Perkins hit three 3-pointers for nine points and Nicole Gallagher had eight points to go with five rebounds. Marta Neira Martinez pulled down eight rebounds and also had two assists, two steals and two points.
The Black Bears held Bryant to its second-lowest point total this season behind its 96-33 loss at Penn State.
The Bulldogs came into the game leading the conference in scoring with 65.2 points per game.
“Our team defense was really good,” Smith said. “We played together offensively and defensively. We knocked down shots.”
UMaine shot 43.3 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent behind the 3-point arc compared with Bryant’s 28.3 percent and 22.2 percent, respectively.
“This was one of our lowest offensive outputs in a while and I’m sure a lot of that has to do with how good Maine is and their size. We struggled offensively today and you can’t do that against Maine,” said Bryant coach Mary Burke.
“They have great balance and, now that I have seen everyone in the league, Smith is the best player in the league, by far,” Burke added. “Her ability to score, she’s strong around the basket, she’s unselfish, she can take it off the dribble. And she has a great surrounding cast.”
The Black Bears took a 33-20 lead into the intermission after outscoring Bryant 22-10 in the second quarter and used a 7-2 run to open the third period, including five points by Hodgson, to expand the lead to 18.
Bryant never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Smith had six points in the second quarter and Christopher and Bornemann had five apiece.
Bornemann, Rockwood and Christopher had 3-pointers in the second quarter while Bryant never attempted one.
UMaine outrebounded Bryant 9-4 in the second period.
UMaine outscored Bryant 8-2 leading up to the intermission with Smith looping a baby hook home and putting in the rebound of a Talon miss before Talon fed Christopher for a three and Hodgson finished things off with a free throw.
Gallagher banked in a layup for Bryant’s only two points during that span.
UMaine will travel for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday at the University of Maryland Baltimore County while Bryant visits New Hampshire for a 1 p.m. contest.