Junior forward Julia Coleman poured in a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the University of Illinois Chicago built a 17-point lead and withstood a furious University of Maine rally to beat the Black Bears 64-54 in the Turkey Tip-Off tournament at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York, on Friday afternoon.
UMaine, now 1-5, will take on St. Francis University of Pennsylvania in Saturday’s noon consolation game.
UIC, 4-3, will face Iona in the championship game at 2:30 p.m.
Iona beat St. Francis 50-31 earlier on Friday.
The Black Bears trailed 30-13 with 4:34 left in the first half but climbed their way back to within 56-54 before Coleman hit a floater in the lane with 56 seconds left to expand the lead to four.
UMaine’s Lizzy Gruber missed two free throws with 28 seconds left and Coleman rebounded her second miss.
TuTu Clayton then iced the game with two free throws with 22 seconds remaining.
Coleman had seven rebounds, three blocked shots, three steals and two assists for the Flames.
Clayton produced 12 points and three assists; Magdalena Winter had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Sara Zabrecky had eight points, six rebounds and two assists.
Senior guard Asta Blauenfeldt paced UMaine with 14 points and two rebounds. Adrianna Smith, UMaine’s leading scorer entering the game, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals before fouling out with 2:57 left in the game.
Sarah Talon had nine points, seven rebounds and five steals before fouling out with 2:36 to go in the contest.
Kaliyah Sain had nine points and three rebounds and Gruber had five points and five rebounds.
Back-up junior point guard Emmie Streams, a former Bangor High multi-sport standout, played a career-high 33 minutes and had three points, three rebounds and two assists and didn’t have any turnovers.
UIC shot 43.6% from the floor and 42.9% from beyond the 3-point arc while UMaine shot 34.5% and 13.6%, respectively.
UIC outrebounded UMaine 39-33.