ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s women’s basketball team had been thumped by Harvard in their last two meetings, 84-56 last year and 69-40 in 2019.
But the Black Bears got a measure of revenge on Wednesday night as they outscored the Crimson 47-32 in the second half and pulled away for an impressive 79-61 triumph at the Memorial Gym.
UMaine improved to 6-4 while Harvard, which was without injured leading scorer Harmoni Turner, fell to 5-4.
Graduate student guard Anne Simon scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half and had eight rebounds, five assists and four steals on the evening.
Senior guard/forward Caroline Bornemann had 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals; sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher produced 13 points off the bench and junior forward Adrianna Smith finished with 12 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.
It was Smith’s seventh double-double of the season.
Sarah Talon had nine points.
Senior guard Lola Mullaney sparked the Crimson with 18 points, four assists and three rebounds. Abigail Wright had 12 points, Elena Rodriguez had 11 to go with five rebounds and five assists and Karlee White had 10 points and seven rebounds along with three assists and three steals.
Six Black Bears hit at least one 3-pointer with UMaine hitting 8-of-21 beyond the 3-point arc in the second half and going 10-for-30 for the game.
Harvard was 2-for-14 from long distance.
Christopher led the way with three 3-pointers on four attempts. The Skowhegan native had scored just 14 points all season and had been held scoreless in three of her last four games.
“All season my team has had confidence in me and it was about me finding confidence in myself,” said Christopher. “Today, I just wanted to come in and help the team any way I could. I got some open looks. My teammates made good passes, created shots for me and I was able to get on a roll.
“It was really a team effort,” she said. “When we get hot, we all get hot and play really well together in those moments. Today was one of those days where everyone was ready to go and we made shots.”
“Everybody did their job,” said Bornemann. “Everyone did a great job shooting with confidence no matter how many went in.”
UMaine coach Amy Vachon said she was pleased with the win.
“Harvard is a great team. I know they are hurt a lot right now but I’m proud of how our team competed and happy to come out with a win,” said Vachon.
Vachon said she has been getting on Christopher a lot about shooting more.
“She is a scorer. If she doesn’t shoot, she can’t play,” said Vachon. “She needs to shoot the ball. I was really happy with her and some other kids, too. We know Anne and Adi (Smith) are going to get their points but in order for us to have a great year we need other kids to hit shots.
“Today we did that,” she added.
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Harvard coach Carrie Moore said her team’s “backs are against the wall right now.
“At moments I was really proud of the way we fought. But I was disappointed that we didn’t put together a complete game in terms of effort in that fight and execution,” said Moore. “They’re a really good basketball team. They are getting better with every game they play. They settled in a little bit. Our (full-court) pressure rattled them some but then they started moving the ball, figured out how we were guarding, passed really well and hit open threes.”
UMaine spotted Harvard the first four points of the fourth quarter to pull within 56-51 but the Black Bears rattled off a 15-7 spurt to pull away.
Sarah Talon, Sera Hodgson and Bornemann hit threes during the flurry.
The first half was a turnover-fest with Harvard turning the ball over 14 times and UMaine giving the ball away 12 times.
UMaine took a 32-29 lead into the intermission.
Harvard built a 14-9 lead which represented its biggest advantage of the first half before the Black Bears strung together a 10-3 run spanning the first and second periods to take a 19-17 lead.
Bornemann scored six of the 10 points with a layup off a Simon pass; another layup off her own steal and a pair of free throws.
Bornemann led all scorers in the first half with 10 points. She also had three assists, two steals and two rebounds. Talon had six points and Christopher came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer and two free throws to close out the half.
Smith and Simon were held to four points apiece.
Mullaney’s eight points and three assists paced the Crimson. Wright produced six points off the bench. White had five points and four rebounds and Krupa and Rodriguez each had four points. Krupa had three assists and three rebounds and Rodriguez had two assists and two rebounds.
Both teams shot 12-for-25 from the floor.
UMaine will host James Madison on Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. Harvard travels to play Boston University on Saturday at 2.