The University of Maine Women’s Basketball team lost 61-56 at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) on Feb. 6, which ended its five-game winning streak. The team travelled to the Wellness and Events Center in Newark to begin their three-straight on the road with an overall record of 12-10 and 7-2 in America East play.
One of Maine’s keys to the game was to limit the third-year guard, Alejandra Zuniga. The team failed to do so, as she opened up the scoreboard with a 3-pointer just under a minute in. This seemed to throw the Bears off. They couldn’t keep the ball on either side of the court and accumulated six turnovers in the first quarter. Fourth-year guard Sera Hodgson stepped up for her team and scored a 3-pointer assisted by graduate student Caroline Borneman to put the Black Bears on the scoreboard and tie the game.
Maine took the first lead of the night from a triple by Hodgson and a layup from Borneman after she dribbled with speed through a pair of defenders. Borneman added onto the score by making two more layups for it to be 9-7 with five minutes remaining. The teams traded the lead five more times, making it a nailbiter of a quarter. The Highlanders got the advantage going into the second quarter with a last minute pair of free throws that second-year guard Marissa Gingrich easily made to make the score 18-16.
Throughout the second quarter, neither team was able to safely secure the lead as both traded a two–point lead for the next ten minutes. In the first minute, Borneman was able to tie the score from a layup in the paint. Once again, the Highlanders respond quickly and tie the game. Maine gets their first free throws of the game with four minutes left, Borneman making both and putting her at 12 points in the game so far. The second quarter ended in a back-and-forth ten minutes where the game had been tied 11 times with 8 lead changes. NJIT was able to sneak the lead to start the third quarter at 28-25.
As a repeat of the first quarter, Hodgson opened up with a 3-pointer assisted by fourth-year guard Paula Gallego to close the score between the teams. The Highlanders were then able to grow their lead to a five-point difference with four minutes left. Maine responded quickly by going on an 8-2 run, every point coming in from second-year forward Caroline Dotsey, beginning with a triple. After a 3-pointer from Enya Maguire on NJIT, Dotsey added another three and a layup for Maine with just under two minutes under the clock to give the Bears a one-point lead. NJIT was able to end the quarter on a 6-2 run and once again lead the scoreboard 43-40 going into the last quarter of the game.
The Highlanders opened the fourth quarter with an 8-3 run to take the largest lead of the game of 8 points, 51-43, with 6:34 minutes left to play. Maine slowly chipped its way of working to get back into the game with the help of five consecutive points from Gallego to bring Maine back to a three-point difference in the scoreboard. Borneman also helped the team, posting 22 points by the end of the game. Zuniga was instrumental in her team taking the lead again, as she totaled at game-high 26 points by the end of the night, 9 of them being in the fourth quarter. Maine was unable to narrow the gap as the Highlanders escaped with the victory, 61-56.
The Black Bears will play their next game at the University of Vermont on Feb. 15 at 4 p.m.
