ORONO, Maine — University of Maine graduate student guard-forward Caroline Bornemann entered Thursday night’s America East game needing 17 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career.
It only took her a half to achieve that goal en route to a career-high 34 points as the Black Bears beat NJIT 71-58 at the Memorial Gym in Orono.
She became the 26th woman in school history to reach 1,000 points.
Bornemann, who also has more than 600 career rebounds, shot 14-of-25 from the floor and made all five of her free throws. She was 1-for-2 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Her previous high was 29 points against Army on Dec. 11, 2022.
UMaine improved to 8-10 overall and 3-2 in the league while NJIT is now 6-11 and 3-1, respectively.
“My teammates did a really good job getting me when I was open in the right spot, giving me the ball when I had a good position, where I had a layup in front of me,” said Bornemann. “Credit to them. I couldn’t do it without them, for sure.”
She echoed a similar sentiment when asked about reaching the 1,000-point mark.
“I couldn’t have done any of it without my teammates over the years,” said the 5-foot-10 Dane, who featured a lot of nifty moves and determination in the post and scored with both hands.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said she told Bornemann after last Saturday’s 60-55 loss at Albany that “we should have gone to her more down the stretch. She was doing a lot of really good things and they were having a hard time containing her.
“That is something we saw and she played really well today,” added Vachon.
Sophomore forward Caroline Dotsey produced 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes off the bench. Junior guard Sarah Talon had nine points and two assists and graduate student guard Olivia Rockwood chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and three assists.
Junior guard Alejandra Zuniga paced NJIT with 20 points, two assists and two rebounds. Sophomore guard Marissa Gingrich had 10 points and three assists and graduate student guard Aria Myers scored 10 points off the bench and also had two rebounds.
The Black Bears led by as much as 13 in the first half but the Highlanders closed out the half with a 9-2 run to pull within 36-30.
Bornemann had seven rebounds, four assists and a steal in addition to her scoring milestones.
Rockwood had six points and Dotsey had five.
Zuniga’s 11 points sparked the Highlanders with Trinity Williams, Gingrich and Dogs netting five apiece.
Bornemann had six points during a 10-3 run to open the second half and helped UMaine build a 46-33 lead.
The Highlanders got within five at 50-45 but the Black Bears came back with a 12-3 spurt that swelled the lead to 62-48.
Dotsey began the run with a layup off a Talon pass and finished it off with a three off a Rockwood pass.
The Highlanders did pull within eight with 1:52 left but Zuniga missed two free throws, Bornemann grabbed the rebound and all but sewed up the win with a layup off a Rockwood pass 26 seconds later.
UMainer outscored NJIT 40-24 in the paint and 16-5 off turnovers over the course of the game.
The Black Bears outrebounded NJIT 43-31 and forced 10 turnovers while turning the ball over just five times.
“I’m really proud of our team. That team was undefeated in conference,” said Vachon.
Bornemann said NJIT is a “really good team with really good players but we did a really good job from the start taking what they were giving us. We kept doing that throughout the whole game.”
Dotsey said it was awesome to see Bornemann light up the scoresheet and reach the 1,000-point mark.
“She killed it. She has done a great job this year and being able to celebrate it with this game was so exciting,” said Dotsey.
UMaine will entertain the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Saturday at 1 while NJIT will visit New Hampshire for a 6 p.m. contest.