Senior guard Sarah Talon hit two clinching free throws with two seconds left to lead the University of Maine women’s basketball team to a 56-55 America East victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County at the UMBC Event Center in Catonsville, Maryland, on Thursday night.
Fifth-year senior forward Adrianna Smith poured in a game-high 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Black Bears. It was her league-leading 13th double-double.
It was UMaine’s fourth straight victory, and the Black Bears improved to 14-11 overall and 9-3 in league play. UMBC, which had won six of its last eight, fell to 11-12, 6-5.
UMaine has now swept the two games vs. the Retrievers this season.
UMaine led 50-37 with 5:57 left in the contest but the Retrievers went on a 10-0 run to close to within three with 3:30 to go.
Smith’s two free throws made it 52-47 with 3:17 left but a traditional 3-point play by Jade Tillman sliced the lead to two with 2:52 left.
Smith’s layup with 2:27 remaining expanded the lead to four.
Two Kennedy Austin free throws with 22 seconds left pulled the Retrievers within two but Talon’s two free throws iced it before Tillman closed out the scoring with a 3-pointer.
Senior guard Asta Blauenfeldt had nine points for UMaine. Lala Woods contributed six points, six rebounds and three steals. Lizzy Gruber produced six points, three assists and a rebound in 11 minutes off the bench. Olivia Alvarez had six points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals and Talon wound up with five points, three blocked shots, two rebounds and two steals.
Tillman, Austin, Tiara Bellamy and Heidi Williams all had 12 points for UMBC. Tillman also had 13 rebounds, Bellamy had five rebounds and three steals, Williams had six rebounds and two steals and Austin had four rebounds.