Graduate student guard Anne Simon and junior guard Paula Gallego scored all 22 of their points in the second half as the University of Maine women’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Binghamton 59-56 in an America East game in Vestal, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon.
Simon, the conference’s leading scorer, had 12 second-half points and Gallego had 10 as the Black Bears beat Binghamton for the ninth straight time and 22nd time in the last 25 meetings.
UMaine improved to 13-8 overall and 6-1 in league play while Binghamton fell to 7-13 and 2-5.
Junior forward and reigning America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith posted her 15th double-double of the season and fifth in a row for the Black Bears with 19 points and 15 rebounds. She also had two assists and two blocked shots.
Simon, who was held to just six points in a loss to Albany on Thursday, had four rebounds, three assists and two steals, to go with her 12 points.
Senior guard Olivia Rockwood contributed 11 points and three rebounds and Gallego had 11 rebounds to go with her 10 points for her first career double-double.
Gallego hadn’t scored in her previous three games and in five of her last seven.
Sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher came off the bench and provided seven points.
Graduate student guard Denai Bowman and redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz had 14 points apiece for the Bearcats. Bowman also had four assists, three rebounds and three steals and Weltz had five rebounds and three steals.
Junior forward Genevieve Coleman had six points and four rebounds. Ella Wanzer, Camryn Fauria and Bella Pucci had five points each.
The Black Bears, who shot just 24 percent from the floor in the first half, climbed back into the game with a 12-0 run in the third period to take a 32-30 lead.
Smith had the first eight points, Christopher had a free throw and Gallego capped the flurry with a 3-pointer off a Christopher pass.
After Weltz tied it with a basket, Christopher gave UMaine a lead it would never relinquish with a 3-pointer off a Simon feed with 50 seconds left in the quarter.
UMaine led 35-33 after three periods and Simon opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer.
Weltz answered with a three but UMaine went on a 6-1 run to build the lead to 44-37 with 4:53 left in the contest on two Simon layups and two Gallego free throws.
A traditional 3-point play by Bowman cut the lead to four but the Black Bears then went on a 10-4 spree to build a 54-44 lead with 1:43 left.
Gallego had five of the 10 points on a three and two foul shots, Smith had three points and Simon had a basket along with a steal that eventually resulted in Gallego’s three off a Caroline Bornemann pass.
The Bearcats rallied and two Weltz free throws with 14 seconds left cut the lead to 55-51.
But Simon sank two free throws two seconds later and, following a Kaylee Krysztof 3-pointer for Binghamton with eight seconds remaining, Rockwood sewed up the win with two foul shots.
UMaine shot 42.9 percent from the floor in the second half and wound up shooting 33.3 percent for the game while Binghamton shot 44.2 percent.
UMaine was 8-for-27 beyond the 3-point arc (29.7 percent) compared to Binghamton’s 6-for-15 (40 percent).
UMaine outrebounded Binghamton 40-28 including an 18-5 edge in offensive rebounds which led to a 15-5 advantage in second chance points.
UMaine will host UMass Lowell on Thursday at 6 p.m. while Binghamton will visit the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Thursday at 7.