The University of Maine’s top-seeded women’s basketball team received a major scare from eighth seed UMass Lowell in Friday night’s America East quarterfinal at the Memorial Gymnasium.
But senior guard-forward Caroline Bornemann’s traditional 3-point play with 2:23 left in the game gave the Black Bears their biggest lead of the game at 43-38 and junior forward Adrianna Smith went four-for-four from the foul line to secure a hard-fought 49-43 victory.
UMaine, now 22-9, will host a semifinal on Monday at 6 p.m.
The 4-24 River Hawks, who start three freshmen, limped into the game with a six-game losing streak but looked more like a team on a six-game winning streak against the disjointed Black Bears until the Black Bears were finally able to get some separation beginning with Bornemann’s 3-point play.
UMaine was holding a tenuous 40-38 lead when Bornemann made a backdoor cut and Smith fed her perfectly for a layup and she was fouled.
“We always talk about taking open shots and shooting with confidence,” said Bornemann.
UMaine assistant coach Courtney England, who was filling in for head coach Amy Vachon who had to leave early to accept an award for her father at the McDonald’s Senior Basketball banquet in Bangor, said it was a two-man play from the top of the key that they had failed to execute in the first half.
Smith then fed Anne Simon for Simon’s only basket of the second half to extend the lead and Smith sank her free throws to ice it.
Smith finished with 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. It was her 22nd double-double of the season.
Graduate student guard and AE Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Simon had 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals. The league’s scoring leader shot just 5-for-20 from the field. Bornemann finished with 12 points and nine rebounds and Olivia Rockwood had nine points.
Leilani Rodriguez’s 12 points, five assists and three rebounds led UMass Lowell. Sydney Watkins had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Milli Carrera had eight points.
“Sometimes you have to win ugly,” said England. “Kudos to UMass Lowell. They have gotten a ton better. (Head coach Denise King) has done a great job.
“They played super tough. We need to do a better job executing our half-court offense. Defensively, we were fantastic. And we killed the boards,” added England.
UMaine outrebounded UML 36-25.
Simon and Smith, the conference’s top two scorer and All-AE first team picks, shot a combined 8-for-32 from the floor.
UMaine shot just 30.9 percent from the floor.
“Defense won it for us. We showed that when we don’t shoot well, we can still win with defense,” said Smith.
King said she was “very proud” of her young team and its performance.
She said their youth and inexperience was a factor in UMaine’s late-game surge.
The Black Bears scored a measly 19 points in the first half against the second-worst defensive team in America East.
UMass Lowell entered the game giving up an average of 62.2 points per game but played very well defensively in the first half, limiting UMaine’s open looks and neutralizing Smith.
Simon, with her 10 points, was the only Black Bear with more than three points as the Black Bears shot a woeful 25 percent the floor and turned the ball over seven times including two shot clock violations.
Smith, the league’s second-leading scorer, missed all four of her field goal attempts and had just two foul shots to show for the first half.
Rockwood’s 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the half pulled UMaine into a 19-19 tie.
UMass Lowell scored the first five points of the game as the Black Bears missed their first seven shots.
UMaine had a pair of one-point leads but fell behind 19-16 on Lindsey’s layup and Rodriguez’s jumper before Rockwood hit her three.
Rodriguez, Watkins and Carrera each had five points to pace the River Hawks.