ORONO, Maine — Fifth-year senior forward Adrianna Smith rebounded her own miss and banked it in with 3.2 seconds remaining to give the University of Maine women’s basketball team a thrilling 60-59 America East victory over Albany on the Skip Chappelle court in the Memorial Gym on Thursday night.
UMaine improved to 16-12 overall and 11-4 in America East with its sixth win in its last seven games.
Albany fell to 14-14 and 4-11, respectively.
Trailing 58-50 with just 2:43 remaining, the Great Danes rattled off nine straight points and took the lead with 11 seconds left on Delanie Hill’s 3-pointer off a long cross-court pass from Martina Borrellas.
After an Albany foul and a UMaine time-out, Lala Woods inbounded the ball to Smith, Smith passed it back to Woods and then got loose along the base line for a Woods return pass.
She missed a base line layup but got her own rebound on the other side of the basket and banked it in.
“They played good defense. I know how I missed that first shot but we spend a lot of time in practice on offensive rebounds. So I went back to get it and tried to get it off in time,” said Smith.
Smith added that she was glad to “do what we needed to do to win because I gave away a lot of easy ones earlier.”
“Adrianna Smith is a dynamic player and she made a Player of the Year play at the end of the game,” said Albany coach Colleen Mullen. “I was proud of our comeback and the way we defended in the fourth quarter to hold a really powerful offensive team to nine points.
“But it just wasn’t enough,” Mullen added.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said she was “really proud” of her players.
“You have to make plays this time of the year and our big-time player made a big-time play,” said Vachon. “It doesn’t matter what the rest of the game looks like. You’ve got to make plays.
“Credit to Albany. They had us stifled in the fourth quarter. We struggled offensively and they hit shots and took the lead,” said Vachon. “Just really proud of our team.”
Smith, who lead America East in scoring, rebounds and assists, finished with 20 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season and seventh straight. She also had a game-high three steals.
Senior guard Asta Blauenfeldt had 13 points; senior guard Sarah Talon garnered 12 points and six rebounds and freshman guard Woods had 10 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Olivia Alvarez had five points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Borrellas was outstanding for the Great Danes. She led all scorers with 23 points and she also had 11 rebounds and four assists. Sophomore guard Hill produced 11 points, two rebounds and two assists.
Freshman forward Amaya Stewart had eight points and two rebounds and graduate student forward Bella Stuart finished with seven points, eight rebounds and two assists. Senior center Gabrielle Falcao had six points, six assists and five rebounds and graduate student guard Julia Palomo Vicente chipped in with four points, four rebounds and three assists.
UMaine shot 41.7 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc while Albany shot 46.4 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively.
Albany outrebounded UMaine 37-31 but UMaine forced 11 Albany turnovers while turning the ball over just six times. UMaine had a 13-6 edge in points off turnovers.
The Black Bears built a 21-12 lead early in the second period and led 30-21 late in the first half but the Great Danes rallied to outscore UMaine 9-4 to close out the half and pull within four at the intermission. Four different Great Danes scored during that run.
Borrellas had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in the first half and Falcao and Stewart had six points apiece. Falcao also had three assists and Stewart grabbed two rebounds. Stuart had five points and seven rebounds.
Blauenfeldt produced 13 points for UMaine thanks to three 3-pointers. Smith had nine points, eight assists and four rebounds.
But Smith missed four of her five free throw attempts after going 23-for-24 from the foul line in her previous three games. Talon had seven points and four rebounds.
Albany shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the first half while UMaine shot 42.4 percent.
UMaine hosts Binghamton on Senior Day on Saturday at 1 while Albany visits New Hampshire also at 1.