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The University of Maine women’s basketball team treated 2,011 fans at Alfond Arena Saturday to an 81-47 defeat of the Stony Brook University Seawolves.
The final score may indicate the Black Bears had an easy time containing Stony Brook, but UMaine spent the first 10 minutes battling for the lead and committed 12 turnovers in the first half.
Junior forward Heather Ernest scored a game-high 28 points and hauled down 11 rebounds, while sophomore forward Monica Peterson scored 13 points off the bench for UMaine.
The UMaine women remain perfect in conference play at 12-0. The Black Bears also extended their winning streak to 15 games, making it the fifth-longest active winning streak in the nation.
UMaine junior Julie Veilleux, who scored 13 points against both Stony Brook and Northeastern University on Feb. 19, said the team isn’t concentrating only on the winning streak.
“We are not letting the pressure get to us,” Veilleux said. “We’re looking at the big picture. It’s tournament time, that’s what it boils down to. You could win all season, and lose it all in the tournament.”
Ernest said the team is using its first place America East standing for motivation.
“We need to stay intense. Nobody’s ever satisfied. We’re the team everyone wants to beat and that makes it easy to get fired up and play everyday,” Ernest said.
UMaine opened the game by turning the ball over several times, and Stony Brook held the Black Bears off the scoreboard until Ernest netted a layup at 17:12.
The two teams continued to battle until head coach Sharon Versyp called a crucial timeout with 10:57 remaining in the first half.
“I really let them have it,” Versyp said. “They needed it, and I haven’t been like that in a while.”
Versyp’s coaching tactic worked. UMaine came out of the timeout and got back to work by going on a 12-0 run after Stony Brook’s star player Sherry Jordan, who was held to four points, hit a jumper at 10:45.
The run was sparked by a Veilleux steal and outlet pass to Ernest. After Ernest hit a wide-open layup, Kim Corbitt stole the ball on the next possession and drove to the basket against Stony Brook’s Akia Booker. Corbitt hit the layup, drew the foul, and converted on the three-point play to make the UMaine lead 21-14 at 9:13.
A Corbitt steal and feed to Ernest and a Missy Traversi three-pointer extended the lead until Seawolves’ center Bojana Bogetic added a layup at 7:09.
Stony Brook came within double figures only once more in the game and the Black Bears went into the half with a 41-25 lead on 60 percent shooting.
UMaine opened the second half causing three consecutive turnovers and reversing its play from the first half by committing only six turnovers. The Black Bears also grabbed 22 rebounds in the second half, while limiting the Seawolves to 12.
UMaine’s lead continued to grow, and the Black Bears led by as many as 38 points with under three minutes remaining in the second half.
Stony Brook head coach Trish Roberts attributed some of her team’s troubles to inexperience and nerves.
“I told my kids how tough it would be to play at Alfond Arena. We got off to a slow start and never really recovered,” Roberts said.
Roberts also said the University of Maine is the team to beat in the America East.
“If Maine stays healthy, I definitely think they can win it all and represent our conference in the NCAA tournament,” Roberts said.
Bangor Daily News