Cassidy key as Black Bears nip Hofstra

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HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Jamie Cassidy made two free throws with 49 seconds left Monday night, lifting the University of Maine to a 58-56 America East women’s basketball victory over Hofstra.

Coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s Black Bears improved to 8-4, 4-0 in the conference, with their third straight victory. The Flying Dutchwomen dropped to 4-9 overall, 2-3 in America East play.

Maine struggled in key areas, but was able to overcome its difficulties.

“It obviously wasn’t pretty, but I’m very proud of the way the team gutted it out,” Palombo said. “What was kind of nice about it was we had to pull some very good defensive stops. It’s great preparation for the future.”

Hofstra, one of the league’s poorest rebounding teams, outrebounded Maine 38-32, snatching 20 offensive boards to Maine’s five.

Further, the Bears committed 27 turnovers and wound up attempting only 38 shots. Even so, Maine shot 53 percent from the field, but the Dutch held the Bears 17 points below their league-leading 75.1 average.

Maine responded with strong defense, limiting the hosts to 34 percent shooting.

“We won it because of defense,” Palombo said. “[Hofstra] played very scrappy and we definitely had far too many turnovers. We were not nearly as sharp as we wanted to be. We don’t plan on playing like this much.”

Cassidy sparked the Bears with a game-high 22 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, and blocked five shots. Martina Tinklova contributed 13 points and Kristen McCormick added 10, while Amy Vachon added five points, five assists, and three steals.

Nora Anderson and freshman Kimberly Coke netted 14 points each for Hofstra. Denee Rivera provided 12 points, seven rebounds, five steals, and four assists.

The Bears had built second-half leads of 10 and seven points, only to allow the Dutch to equalize.

Rivera’s runner from the lane tied the game at 56 with 1:06 to play, but Cassidy answered with two foul shots that provided the eventual margin of victory.

Maine made a couple of big defensive stops down the stretch, but Cassidy missed front ends with nine seconds and one second to play, respectively. Hofstra had its best chance to tie when Rivera went to the line with three seconds left, but she missed both shots.

The Bears opened the second half with a 12-2 scoring run, turning a 32-32 tie into a 44-34 advantage. Kelly Bowman scored the first two baskets, then a Kizzy Lopez layup, a Cassidy foul shot, and a layup by Cassidy gave Maine a 10-point lead with 14:33 left.

Hofstra eventually tied it up at 56 with a 9-2 spurt during a three-minute span. Rivera scored five points, including the tying layup, for the hosts.

Black Bears 58, Dutchwomen 56

Maine (8-4) Hofstra (4-9)

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

Bowman 2 5 0 0 4 Anderson 6 15 1 1 14

Tinklova 4 5 5 7 13 Coke 5 10 4 6 14

Cassidy 8 11 6 9 22 Abromavage 1 8 0 0 2

McCormick 4 7 0 0 10 Rivera 5 13 2 6 12

Vachon 1 4 2 2 5 Duffy 1 7 0 0 2

Macream 0 2 0 0 0 Brennan 0 2 0 0 0

Lopez 1 3 2 6 4 Morrissey 0 0 0 0 0

Stone 0 0 0 0 0 Harris 2 5 2 4 6

Moldre 0 1 0 0 0 Nimmo 0 0 0 0 0

Pine 2 4 2 2 6

Totals 20 38 15 24 58 Totals 22 64 11 19 56

Maine 32 58

Hofstra 32 56

3-pt. goals: Maine (3-9): Bowman 0-3, McCormick 2-3, Vachon 1-3; Hofstra (1-13): Anderson 1-7, Rivera 0-3, Duffy 0-3

Attendance: 453

Men’s basketball

Thomas 75, Bowdoin 68

Thomas (4-8) 75

Dunphe 2-3-7, Cilley 7-5-19, Pitcher 4-0-9, Raymond 11-5-31, Cloukey 2-1-5, Magnusson 2-0-4, Heal, Pillsbury, Grant Bowman (5-4) 68

Houser 3-1-9, Coleman 5-4-16, Buschmann 3-1-7, Smith 2-2-6, Lovely 6-1-14, Masson , Baranowski 2-1-5, McKinnon 1-5-8, McCabe 1-1-3

3-pt. goals: Raymond 4, Pitcher; Coleman 2, Houser 2, Lovely, McKinnon

Halftime: Thomas 24-20