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The University of Maine women’s basketball team earned a hard-fought win Saturday over Binghamton 63-53, after trailing throughout much of the game.
The Black Bears were led by Ashley Underwood, who had 17 points off the bench. She shot 5- for-6 from three-point range.
“Ashley knows and we know – when she hits one, she hits two, she’s going to keep hitting them,” said UMaine head coach Sharon Versyp. “Ashley’s on or she’s off, there’s no in between. She took shots. She didn’t rush shots.”
UMaine led 9-7 with 14:58 remaining in the first half. That would be their last lead until 7:18 in the second half. The Bearcats largest lead was nine, with just over a minute to play in the first half. A jumper by Bracey Barker cut the Binghamton lead to 31-24 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The Bearcats lead was still seven with 12:03 left in the game, when UMaine fought back and tied the game at 46 with 8:27 to play. The Black Bears then finished off a 17-0 run with 13 more points to take a 59-46 lead with three minutes to play. The Bearcats cut the UMaine lead to six, but UMaine held on for the 10-point win.
The Black Bears are the best free-throw shooting team in the conference and they shot 24-for-28 from the line Saturday night.
Missy Traversi, who had 16 points, scored her 1,000th career point late in the game, was 12-for-12 from the free throw line.
“Our field goal percentage was extremely poor,” said Versyp, “we got to the foul line and that’s one thing that we did do exceptionally well.”
“In the second half we definitely picked up the defensive intensity,” said Kim Corbitt. “We started trapping more.”
Binghamton shot 13-for-19 in the first half. They shot just 6-for-18 in the second half.
“We actually made them miss a few shots in the second half,” said Corbitt, “and we got the rebound and ran. It’s very difficult for us to do well when we don’t rebound and run at all.”
Corbitt, who played the entire game, made a three-pointer to give her team the lead late in the second half. After the game she talked about her shot.
“Whenever I hit a three everyone gets fired up,” said Corbitt. “I knew we’d come out and continue to pick up the intensity, and we did.”
Missy Traversi said she knows her team can come back if they have to.
“We attacked the basket hard, and we shot well from the free-throw line,” said Traversi. “If one person isn’t getting the job done I know someone else is going to step up.”
Traversi is UMaine’s leading scorer, and she reached the 1,000-point milestone with two late free throws against the Bearcats.
“It’s a great accomplishment, but I’m glad it’s over with,” said Traversi. “Now I can just move on and focus. What’s a better place to do it than at home in front of the fans. It’s just an awesome feeling, but I’m glad it’s done.”
While Corbitt played all 40 minutes, Traversi played 37 and Monica Peterson played 39. Ashley Underwood played 27 minutes off the bench. Versyp had her team press for much of the game, forcing her players to keep up the defensive pressure. She says her team is best when they play a transition defense, but, like the last four games, they had to press.
“We had to change the tempo. The tempo wasn’t ours,” said Versyp. “We shot 22 free throws in the second half. We know that we can attack and hopefully get fouled.”
UMaine improved to 12-8 overall with the win. They improved their conference record to 8-2. The Bearcats fell to 6-13 overall, and 5-5 in the America East. The win for the Black Bears was their fifth in a row. The Black Bears host New Hampshire Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.
The Wildcats beat the Black Bears earlier in the season 60-57.
