ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s women’s basketball team picked up a comfortable 68-49 America East win over UMass Lowell on Thursday evening at the Memorial Gym but it may have come at a cost.
Leading scorer and 2021-22 America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Anne Simon, a graduate student guard, suffered a right ankle injury with 7:56 left in the third quarter and didn’t return. She was on the bench with an ice bag on her ankle.
It was the same ankle Simon injured a year ago that sidelined her for a pair of eight-game stints.
Junior forward Adrianna Smith pumped in a game-high 25 points and she also had eight rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Black Bears improved to 14-8 overall and 7-1 in conference play.
UMaine’s win coupled with Vermont’s 64-59 triumph at Albany leaves the three teams in a first-place tie with their 7-1 records.
It was her 10th consecutive games with 10 or more points and she has scored 20 or more in five of them.
Senior guard-forward Caroline Bornemann produced six points, a game-high nine rebounds, four rebounds and two steals.
Junior guard Paula Gallego came off the bench to chip in with six points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Impressive freshman guard Abbey Lindsey came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points for UMass Lowell, which is now 3-17 overall and 3-6 in league play. It was the River Hawks’ fourth straight loss following a three-game winning streak.
Lindsey also had four rebounds and two assists.
Freshman forward Rayne Durant had 11 points and five rebounds and another freshman, guard Cire Worley, contributed seven points, five rebounds and two steals.
UMaine shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 29.4 percent from long range compared to UMass Lowell’s 42 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.
UMaine outrebounded the River Hawks 40-31 and forced 16 turnovers while turning it over 11 times. UMaine outscored UML 11-2 in second-chance points and 19-11 off turnovers.
Simon, who had been held to 12 points or less in five of her previous seven games after scoring at least 17 in her previous seven contests, poured in all 15 of her points in the first half as the Black Bears built a 38-21 halftime lead and the River Hawks couldn’t get any closer than 16 the rest of the way.
UMaine outscored UMass Lowell 20-7 in the second period.
“We have focused a lot on defense in practice,” said Bornemann. “We didn’t come out great. We gave up 14 points in the first quarter. But we had a good defensive quarter in the second.”
“When we focus in on defense, offense will come for us,” said Smith. “We responded well when Anne went down. We had a lot of energy which is hard to do when your most experienced player goes out.”
UMaine used a 13-4 run to open the second quarter and transform its four-point lead to a 31-18 advantage.
Smith fed Simon at the top of the key for a pair of 3-pointers to trigger the run and, after Smith’s short baseline jumper off a Simon pass was sandwiched by a pair of Durant baskets, Smith scored in the paint and Gallego converted a traditional 3-point play off a fast break pass by Bornemann.
Worley finished a layup to make it 31-20 but Simon nailed another three, passed to Smith for a reverse layup and, after a Gabby Ross free throw for UMass Lowell, Gallego fed Smith inside to close out the half.
UMaine led by as many as 25 in the third quarter.
“It was a good team win. We had 18 assists and 12 offensive rebounds,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon, who received a four-year contract extension with a raise earlier this week.
Simon sank six of her 13 first-half field goal attempts including a 3-for-5 showing from beyond the 3-point arc.
She also grabbed eight rebounds, which is what she finished with.
Smith added 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor over the first 20 minutes and she also had five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Bornemannn added five points, two rebounds and two assists.
Worley’s seven points and two rebounds paced the River Hawks in the first half. Durant had five points and two rebounds.
UMaine will travel to Bryant (Rhode Island) for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday while UMass Lowell will visit New Hampshire for a 3 p.m. contest.