Bears’ new aggression aids in win> Palombo mixes lineup

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EVANSTON, Ill. – Junior forward Jamie Cassidy scored 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the University of Maine women’s basketball team to an 82-61 win over Ohio University in the consolation round of the Roger L. White Invitational at Welsh-Ryan Arena Saturday.

The Black Bears dominated from the outset, trailing only once – at 11-10 – and building up a 12-point halftime lead.

Maine extended that lead to 20 points midway through the second half and never let the Bobcats make a serious bid after that.

Maine moves to 3-3 with the win. The Bears next play Rhode Island at Alfond Arena Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Maine coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie shuffled her starting lineup, inserting freshman guard Lacey Stone, and sophomore forwards Martina Tinklova and Kizzy Lopez. The starts were the first for each player this year.

The move paid off.

Stone, who had played only 25 minutes all season before the game, played 35 minutes against the Bobcats. She scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds as the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak.

Tinklova atted 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds in her 35-minute stint, while Lopez scored nine more in 29 minutes of action.

Palombo said the moves had less to do with losing three straight games than with simply trying to find a way to increase the Bears’ aggressiveness.

“I just think it’s real important to attack, and also to see the experiments with different lineups and what not, especially if we’re not having great success,” Palombo said.

And the players who started – as well as the substitutes – performed as she’d hoped.

“I think we did some good things on the boards, and overall intensity on defense definitely was better,” she said.

The Black Bears dominated underneath, outrebounding the Bobcats 45-32. The Black Bears only attempted seven 3-pointers in the game, and shot 50 percent from the floor.

Ohio University got 12 and 11 points from reserves Amber Bunce and Cathy Szall. Danielle Longnecker pitched in with 11 more.

Northwestern defeated Western Kentucky 65-59 to win the tourney title. Western Kentucky topped Maine in the first round.

Maine’s Cassidy was named to the all-tournament team, along with Shea Lunsford and Katashia Witcher of Western Kentucky and Tami Sears and Dana Leonard of Northwestern. Megan Chawansky of Northwestern was named the most valuable player.

Black Bears 82, Bobcats 61

Ohio University Maine

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

Longnecker 3 12 2 2 11 Lopez 4 6 0 2 9

Hindenlang 2 3 4 8 8 Tinklova 6 9 4 6 16

Collins 3 6 0 3 6 Cassidy 8 21 9 10 25

Laughlin 1 6 0 0 2 Vachon 4 8 4 5 12

Whitfield 2 8 0 2 4 Stone 5 13 0 0 11

Negrelli 2 6 1 1 5 Macream 0 0 0 0 0

Musselman 0 0 0 0 0 Bowman 0 0 0 0 0

Crawford 1 2 0 0 2 Guerrette 2 3 0 1 4

Szall 4 8 0 0 11 Pardilla 0 0 0 0 0

Bunce 5 8 2 2 12 Clark 2 2 1 2 5

Totals 23 59 9 18 61 Totals 31 62 18 26 82

Ohio University 21 40 61

University of Maine 33 49 82

3-pt. goals: Ohio (6-18): Longnecker 3-8, Szall 3-6, Laughlin 0-1, Whitfield 0-2, Negrelli 0-1; Maine (2-7): Stone 1-4, Lopez 1-1, Cassidy 0-2