ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s basketball team had to rally from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat New Hampshire 67-61 on Feb. 21 in Orono and it appeared the Black Bears were in for another dogfight after the first quarter of Thursday night’s America East quarterfinal against the Wildcats.
The Black Bears were leading by just one but outscored the Wildcats 28-13 in the second period to take a 46-30 lead into the intermission and then held UNH to one basket and eight points in the third period en route to a 77-58 victory on the Skip Chappelle Court in the Memorial Gym in Orono.
The 18-12 Black Bears, winners of eight of their last nine, will now host Binghamton (New York) in Orono for a semifinal matchup Monday at 6 p.m.
UMaine has now beaten UNH 13 straight times.
America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith, a fifth-year senior forward, poured in a game-high 35 points to go with 15 rebounds for her 18th double-double of the season. She also had five assists and three steals.
Her 35 points is the most in an America East women’s playoff game since 2011.
She was honored in a brief pre-game ceremony for becoming the first America East player, male or female, to register 1,000 career points, 1,000 career rebounds and 400 assists.
After Thursday’s game, she now has 1,839 points, 1,025 rebounds and 423 assists.
Senior guard Sarah Talon had 16 points, two rebounds and two assists and freshman guard Lala Woods produced 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Freshman guard Olivia Alvarez had seven points, three assists and two rebounds.
Junior guard Eva DeChent pumped in 28 points to pace UNH. She also grabbed five rebounds and had two assists and two steals. Camryn Fauria, Maggie Cavanaugh and Elizabeth Lavoie had six points each for the 10-20 Wildcats. Cavanaugh had six rebounds and Lavoie had five.
UMaine shot 48.1 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent beyond the 3-point arc compared to UNH’s 35.8 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.
UMaine forced 12 turnovers and only committed five and outscored UNH 15-2 in points off turnovers.
“Credit to Maine. They played a helluva game tonight,” said UNH coach Megan Shoniker. “They were firing on absolutely all cylinders. They hit eight threes in the first half. They’re a really hard team to beat when they are banging threes and Smith is going off.”
She added that she was proud of her players for never giving up.
UMaine coach Amy Vachon was pleased with her team, calling it a “great team effort, led by (Smith) of course. Thirty-five (points) and 15 (rebounds). Pretty efficient. And I thought Sarah (Talon), especially in the last three quarters, really stepped up.
“Happy with the win,” added Vachon.
Smith, held to three points in the first period, erupted for 16 in the second quarter as the Black Bears went 9-for-13 from the floor while UNH went 5-for-13.
“Energy is high and intensity is high in the playoffs and you have to get into the flow of the game,” said Smith. “I was forcing it a little bit at the beginning, but seeing free throws go in definitely helps and our team was hitting big, tough shots, especially Lala and Liv (Alvarez). And Sarah had a three at the beginning and that really opens things up for me and gets me back into the flow of it.”
“We focused on the little things,” said Talon. “Our rebounding was pretty good and making it hard for them (to score) was what we were trying to do.”
Smith said their defensive intensity was a key.
“That’s what really carries our team and allows us to be a great team,” said Smith. “Defense wins championships and that’s what we’re trying to do. Focusing on that is really big for us and that’s what made the difference in this game.”
UMaine opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run behind Alvarez’s five points, three Smith free throws, a Talon three and a Lizzy Gruber bucket in the paint.
Averie Harding’s basket for UNH cut the lead to 31-21 but UMaine answered with 11 straight points including nine in a row from Smith after a Talon layup triggered the spurt.
UNH had a 9-4 run to close out the half with DeChent hitting a three and a traditional 3-point play and Cavanaugh pumping in a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer.
UMaine second leading scorer Asta Blauenfeldt left the game after picking up her second foul with 2:03 left in the first quarter and didn’t play the rest of the half.
Woods had nine first-half points for UMaine and Talon had eight.
DeChent accounted for 17 of UNH’s 30 first-half points.