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On Tuesday night, the University of Maine women’s basketball team came from behind for the third straight game snatching a 59-50 victory over the University of New Hampshire at Alfond Arena. The Black Bears trailed by seven with a little over 13 minutes to play against the Wildcats, only to close the game on a 28-12 run.
UNH head coach Sue Johnson’s team beat the Black Bears earlier in the season 60-57. After starting the second half on a 9-0 run, her team seemed poised to beat UMaine for a second time. The Black Bears tied the game at 43 with 8:27 to play. Johnson said it was UMaine’s shooting in the last four minutes, both from the field and from the free throw line, that sealed her team’s fate.
“We didn’t hit the big shots and they did,” said Johnson, who is in her eight year at New Hampshire. “Give UMaine credit. They stepped up, when it came to winning time.”
UMaine beat the Wildcats three times last year. None of those games were very close. This season has been a different story between the two rival schools. The Black Bears were happy to get the win at home Tuesday night.
“It was a good game back and forth,” said UMaine head coach Sharon Versyp. “The key to us right now is attacking and getting to the foul line, keeping teams off the foul line. That was the key ingredient to our success tonight.”
UMaine moved into first place with a 9-2 record in the conference, while improving to 13-8 overall. New Hampshire fell to 6-5 and 10-10 overall.
UMaine has played New Hampshire in the America East tournament in each of the last two seasons. The Black Bears know they cannot overlook the Wildcats if they were to meet for a third time this season.
“They’re a good team,” said Monica Peterson. “Everybody on their team can shoot the three. They have great post players and they have good rebounders.”
Kim Corbitt had 18 points to lead the way for UMaine. She also had six assists in 38 minutes of play. Corbitt again hit a big three-point shot to elevate the Black Bears. It came with 47 seconds remaining and gave her team a six-point lead.
“They were playing off me, so I had a lot of open shots,” said Corbitt. “I was fortunate enough to knock down that last shot.”
Corbitt’s Black Bears are the defending America East Champions, which means they are a target for most teams in the conference. The Wildcats gave the Black Bears a tough game on their home court.
“I think they did a good job scouting us,” said Corbitt. “It looked like they had been scouting us all year long. They knew all of our plays, and everything we were doing, so we had to adjust.”
Monica Peterson finished with 14 points. Missy Traversi and Bracey Barker each added 11.
Versyp again did not play many of her bench players. Ashley Underwood played 23 minutes off the bench, but four of the starters put in well over 30 minutes. The Black Bears again seemed to outlast their opponents.
“All year our preseason condition has kind of come out in the second half,” said Corbitt. “I think around that seven to eight-minute mark a lot of teams die out, we just keep pushing.”
The Black Bears will have to keep pushing when they head down the final stretch of their season. They play at Albany at 5 p.m. on Saturday. They return home next Tuesday to host Northeastern. Albany is coming off wins over Binghamton, Hartford and Boston University.
Bangor Daily News