Tenacious Bears stop Catamounts

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ORONO – The University of Maine women’s basketball team entered Thursday night’s North Atlantic Conference game against Vermont as the nation’s second-stingiest team to score on at 52.4 points per game. Maine had held its opponents to 34.5 percent shooting from the floor, the fourth-lowest in the country.

The Black Bears used that tenacious team defense and balanced scoring to end Vermont’s 36-game winning streak against NAC teams, 52-40, at the Alfond Arena.

The Black Bears scored the game’s first six points and never looked back. They built a 22-14 halftime lead.

Vermont cut the lead to four early in the second half, but a Maine run of 12 unanswered points turned a 32-27 margin into a comfortable 44-27 lead with four minutes left and sewed up the win.

Maine is now 10-5 overall and 3-0 in the NAC. Vermont fell to 8-6, 2-1.

“This was our best win of the season in terms of development and maturity,” said Maine Coach Joanne Palombo. “We were all on the same page defensively. We dictated the tempo of the game and that was very important.”

“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” said Maine senior guard and co-captain Chrissy Strong. “We set a goal for ourselves to hold them under 40 points tonight.

“We were really hungry. We really wanted this one,” added Strong.

Maine used an aggressive 1-2-2 zone along with some full-court, man-to-man pressure to frustrate NAC Player of the Year Sheri Turnbull and the Catamounts.

The Bears collapsed on Turnbull, the 5-foot-11 senior forward, and the guards even doubled down to help out.

It was clear that if Vermont was going to beat the Bears, it would have to get production from people other than Turnbull. The Bears were simply not going to let Turnbull beat them.

Turnbull, the nation’s 19th-leading scorer with a 21.8 points-per-game average, was held to 16 points and seven of those came after Maine had manufactured its 44-27 lead.

Turnbull hit on six of 12 field goal attempts, but her mates made only nine of 41.

Maine’s decisive 12-point run was initiated by Stacia Rustad, who came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for her only points of the game.

Cyndi Buetow then fed Stephanie Guidi for a lay-in and, after Turnbull missed a pair of free throws, Trisha Ripton fed Strong for a top-of-the-key jumper. Strong reciprocated by passing to Ripton for a 3-pointer from the left corner.

“The weak side was wide open in against their zone, so I just waited for the ball,” said Ripton.

Strong’s 10-foot base line jumper capped the spree. Vermont could get no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Maine didn’t have anybody in double figures, but Guidi and Erin Grealy Buetow had nine each and Buetow and Strong had eight apiece. Catherine Gallant’s eight rebounds and Buetow’s seven paced the Bears and Strong and Guidi had six each. Strong dished out five assists and turned the ball over only once in 35 minutes.

Buetow’s presence was an important factor. She spelled the foul-plagued Guidi, but also stayed in with Guidi later in the game.

“Cyndi was outstanding. She really stepped up for us. So did Trisha Ripton and Stacia Rustad. They got some key baskets when we needed them,” said Palombo.

“This feels good,” said Buetow. “I knew I had to take the ball to the hoop. That helped open things up for our guards.”

Turnbull had nine rebounds to go with her 16 points. Kari Greenbaum had nine points and three assists and Betsy Brothers had eight first-half points.

Vermont hit on only 15 of its 53 field goal attempts. Maine connected on 21 of 60. Maine outrebounded Vermont 46-35.

Maine scored the game’s first six points to take a lead it would never relinquish.

Vermont missed its first four field goal attempts and committed two turnovers while Maine was rattling off those first six points.

Guidi’s basket from underneath opened the scoring, Gallant hit a driving base line layup and Gallant popped in the rebound of her own miss.

Turnbull’s hoop from under the basket pulled Vermont to within 8-5 a few minutes later as Maine turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions.

That was as close as Vermont was to come. The Bears outscored the cold-shooting Catamounts 14-9 over the remainder of the half.

Buetow came off the bench to score four of those points with Strong and Grealy also having four apiece.

Vermont connected on only five of its 28 field goal attempts in the first half, while Maine hit 11 of 30.

Black Bears 52, Catamounts 40

Vermont Maine women

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Desmaris 0 0 0 0 0 Strong 9 4 1 0 8

Jacobs 1 1 0 0 2 Grealy 9 3 4 3 9

Apap 11 2 0 0 5 Gallant 6 3 0 0 6

Kroner 6 0 0 0 0 Rustad 4 1 0 0 3

Turnbull 12 6 8 4 16 Dionne 3 1 0 0 2

Greenbaum 14 3 2 1 9 Ripton 7 1 2 2 5

Brothers 9 3 2 2 8 Sullivan 7 1 0 0 2

Buetow 8 4 0 0 8

Guidi 7 3 4 3 9

Totals 53 15 12 7 40 Totals 60 21 11 8 52

Vermont 14 40

Maine 22 52

Preliminary:

3-pt. goals: Vermont (3-9): Apap 1-1, Kroner 0-1, Turnbull 0-1, Greenbaum 2-6; Maine (2-8): Rustad 1-2, Ripton 1-6