PORTLAND, Maine — For 35 minutes, the University of Maine’s Black Bears went toe-to-toe with the nation’s 17th-ranked Indiana University Hoosiers in front of 5,983 energized fans at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
The crowd was definitely behind former Gorham High star and Hoosier first team All-American Mackenzie Holmes, and the Hoosiers rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit and overcame a career-high 34 points from graduate student guard Anne Simon to earn a hard-fought 67-59 victory.
Indiana is now 6-1 after winning its fifth straight game.
UMaine fell to 4-4.
The Hoosiers used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a two-point deficit into a 62-54 lead with 2:58 left and the Black Bears couldn’t get any closer than five the rest of the way.
Yarden Garzon began the decisive run with a 10-foot jumper, and Sydney Parrish notched a traditional point play off a driving layup.
Chloe Moore-McNeil scored the next five points with a short jumper and a 3-pointer.
Holmes scored 22 points and shot 9-for-11 from the floor. She also had seven rebounds.
Parrish finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists, and Sara Scalia had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Garzon and Moore-McNeil each had seven points. Moore-McNeil had seven assists and Garzon had four.
Simon, who had 25 first-half points, also finished with 11 rebounds and five steals. Adrianna Smith registered 14 points and 13 assists, and Sarah Talon had six points.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our team,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon. “We battled. What can you say about Anne Simon? Just an amazing game, offensively and defensively. Making plays all over the floor. (Smith) battling inside at maybe 5-foot-9. Getting a double-double for both of them.
“I just love this team. Love the fight and love the battle. Really excited for our next day and our next opponent,” said Vachon, whose Black Beards will play Fordham on Saturday afternoon in New York.
Simon credited her teammates and their faith in her for making her performance possible.
“I didn’t shoot the ball well in Iowa (12-for-37 in three games) and it was frustrating. But my teammates trusted me and kept telling me to shoot the ball,” said Simon. “I took the shots for me that were good for me and some of them went in.”
“We could all agree she was terrific. She had a night to be proud of,” said Indiana Coach Teri Moren. “Anybody can get into a zone and that’s what she did. Her first couple of shots went and she got confidence. She didn’t feel anyone could guard her in the first half and we couldn’t. We were pitiful defensively in the first half but we were better in the second half. Lexi (Lexus Bargesser) did a great job on her in the fourth quarter.”
Parrish, held scoreless in the first half, erupted for 10 points in the third period to pull the Hoosiers within three after UMaine had taken a 37-29 lead into the intermission.
Garzon, who had just one point through the first three periods, hit three 10-foot jumpers in the first 4:58 of the fourth period to tie it up at 54-54.
“It was one of those games where we had to grind it out,” said Moren. “You have nights when your shots aren’t falling. Teams make different runs. We were much better in the second half.”
Holmes said she was “extremely grateful to have this opportunity.
“Like coach said, this was a great environment for women’s basketball. To be able to come back and play probably my last game at the Cross Insurance Arena was incredible,” Holmes said.,
She also knew the Black Bears were going to provide them with good test.
“We knew this was a big game for them. We knew they would be fired up to play. And we knew they were a good team,” said Holmes.”I grew up knowing Maine basketball running the Amerida East conference when I was in high school. I know they are a very well-coached team and we knew they were going to play hard on both sides of the basketball.”
Simon had a remarkable first half that saw her shoot 60 percent from the floor and sink five of her six free throws.
The Hoosiers took a 12-7 lead in the first period before Simon scored UMaine’s next nine points during a 9-2 run that gave the Black Bears a 16-14 lead after the first 10 minutes.
She began the flurry with a pair of free throws, nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, converted a steal and layup and, after a pair of Holmes free throws, banked in a 10-foot jumper from the left side just before the buzzer went off.
Her 12-foot base line jumper in the second quarter expanded UMaine’s lead to 27-20 and, after Indiana rattled off a 7-2 run thanks to a pair of Holmes inside baskets and a Scalia 3-pointer, Talon and Simon scored the next eight points before Holmes scored in the paint to close out the half and make it a 37-29 game.
Talon converted a layup off a Smith pass and then busted to the hoop for another layup before Simon made a pair of steals and raced down the court to lay the ball in.
Talon and Smith each had six first-half points. Smith also had nine rebounds and three assists.
Simon had three steals to go with her 25 points, and she also had three rebounds.
Holmes had three rebounds to accompany her 15 first-half points and Scalia had three assists and three rebounds to go with her nine points.
Simon and Smith shot 17-for-35 from the floor over the 40 minutes but the rest of the team went just 5-for-20.
Indiana shot 43.1 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc compared to UMaine’s 40 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively.
UMaine held its own on the boards, losing the battle just 36-35 against a team whose starting lineup was 3.6 inches taller per player than Maine’s.
“Rebounding is all mental,” said Smith. “You have to go after the ball and be aggressive. We knew we were going to have to do that times 10 tonight because they were so much bigger than us and that’s what we did.”
Smith said going up against Holmes in the paint was challenging.
“She’s really good. She’s great. Once she caught the ball, I could only do so much,” said Smith. “It’s great playing against her. We don’t have a Mackenzie Holmes in America East. So it’s good fo me to guard someone like that.”
Indiana will host Stetson on Sunday.