The University of Maine women’s basketball team overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to beat Bryant University 64-56 in a hard-fought America East game on the Skip Chappelle court in the Memorial Gym on Saturday afternoon.
The Black Bears received 29 points and 11 rebounds from fifth-year senior forward Adrianna Smith and two clutch late fourth-quarter baskets from senior guard Sarah Talon.
It was UMaine’s third straight win, fifth in six games and 10th in its last 13 contests.
The Black Bears improved to 13-11 overall and 8-3 in America East while Bryant fell to 16-8 and 6-5, respectively. Bryant’s loss was its fifth in its last seven games.
UMaine avenged an 82-73 loss to Bryant in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on Jan. 3.
Smith’s double-double was her 12th of the season and 50th of her career. She also blocked two shots and had a steal and an assist. Senior guard Asta Blauenfeldt had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal, and Talon finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Junior Lizzy Gruber of Gardiner came off the bench and contributed nine points, four rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot in 14:37.
Bryant led 23-15 after the first period, shooting 62.5 percent from the floor over the first 10 minutes.
But the Black Bears buckled down on defense and limited the Bulldogs to just 33 points the rest of the way on 28.3 percent shooting.
Talon said the team’s defensive intensity after the first period was the difference in the game.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we normally do so we figured out what needed to be done and we clicked together,” Talon said.
The Black Bears also benefitted from Bryant foul trouble as second-leading scorer Nia Scott (11.4 points per game) and No. 4 point-producer Maranda Nyborg (10.7 ppg) each picked up their fourth fouls in the third period and had to sit for a long stretch in the second half.
The 6-foot-1 Scott is the team’s leading rebounder with 8.4 per game and the 6-3 Nyborg averages 4.4 rebounds.
The foul trouble on Scott and Nyborg made them play differently, Smith said.
“It made them have to have different looks and change up their game plan a little bit. When you keep them on their toes, it helps our defensive intensity and then going out offense, too,” Smith added.
Junior guard Mia Mancini was Bryant’s only double-figure scorer with 15 but she had just three in the second half. Junior forward Scott had nine points, eight rebounds, an assist and a steal, and graduate student guard Mimi Rubino produced seven points, five rebounds and four assists.
Graduate student forward Nyborg and Rose Nelson had six points each and Nelson also had four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot.
Bryant coach Lynne-Ann Kokoski said the foul trouble played a major role in the outcome.
“When your two best players are in early foul trouble, what are you going to do?” Kokoski said. “It’s hard to get a rhythm when some of your best players are on the bench. We had some really good fight. We didn’t show any quit.”
After falling behind by 11 early in the second quarter, the Black Bears rallied to tie the game going into the halftime break and took the lead for good with an 8-0 run in the third period which made it 39-34.
The Bulldogs pulled to within two with 1:51 left in the third quarter but Talon made three free throws to close out the quarter.
The determined Bulldogs stayed within striking distance in the fourth quarter and cut the UMaine lead to 51-48 but Talon drove the lane and flipped home a runner with 3:43 left and then hit a 7-foot jumper in the middle of the lane to give UMaine some breathing room.
“I was getting in the flow of things. I was taking what came to me and was confident in my shot,” said Talon of Windham. “My teammates want me to shoot the ball and get to the rim so I’m doing what I can to help them.”
“When Sarah puts her mind to it, she can get by anyone in the league. She is crazy athletic,” said Smith.
Bryant answered with an Abbey Lindsay free throw and Scott’s basket underneath with 2:50 to go but the Black Bears responded with a nifty reverse layup by Blauenfeldt off a Talon feed to make it 57-51 with 2:19 to go.
Bryant couldn’t get any closer than five the rest of the way,
Smith said when their defense stepped up, it was a “real energy builder” and fuelled their offense.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said she liked how her team responded defensively in the second and third periods after a sub-standard showing in the first quarter.
“We really guarded well and we were very aggressive on the offensive end,” Vachon said.
Maine made 24 of 31 free throws. It was the most free throws attempted since 2017 and the most made since 2019.
Vachon also said she received great minutes”off the bench from Gruber and former Bangor High three-sport star Emmie Streams, who played exceptional defense and had two rebounds and an assist in 10:36 of playing time.
The Bulldogs went on a 17-6 run spanning the first and second quarters to build a 26-15 lead and were leading 31-24 with just 2:47 left in the half when the Black Bears closed out the half on a 7-0 run to draw even.
UMaine hit just one of its first seven field goal attempts in the second quarter and that was Gruber’s second 3-pointer of the season.
Smith started the 7-0 surge with a spin move and a six-foot jumper and then she blocked a shot with Blauenfeldt grabbing the rebound.
Smith followed with a 12-foot jumper and Olivia Alvarez made a steal which led to a Smith 3-pointer off a Talon feed to tie it up.
Smith had 19 points in the first half, Gruber had seven and Blauenfeldt had five.
Mancini’s 12 points paced Bryant and Scott had six.
UMaine will hit the road to take on the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday at noon.
Bryant hosts UMass Lowell on Thursday at 6 p.m.