Turnover-prone Black Bears upended in overtime

NATCHITOCHES, La. – The University of Maine came agonizingly close Thursday night to earning its first road victory of the season.

Instead, the Black Bears threw it away.

Despite outrebounding Northwestern State 57-41 and playing solid defense, UMaine committed 38 turnovers while coming up on the short end of a 64-62 overtime decision at Prather Coliseum.

The 2-2 Black Bears had ample opportunities to win the contest, getting of the last shot in regulation and at the end of overtime, but simply missed too many easy shots, according to UMaine coach Sharon Versyp.

“The bottom line was we didn’t make the easy layups,” Versyp said. “We had plenty of shots, many of which were makeable.”

Versyp tried to improve UMaine’s guard play by utilizing freshman Julie Veilleux of Augusta at point guard. She responded with a career-high 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.

However, Ellen Geraghty committed 10 turnovers while Heather Ernest of Temple and Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha made seven each for the Bears.

“When you turn the ball over 38 times, you don’t deserve to win,” said a disappointed Versyp. “They were able to score 32 points [half of their game total] off of our turnovers.”

Geraghty tossed in 12 points and provided five rebounds and four steals for UMaine. Ernest contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Christy Grover of Bucksport added six points and nine rebounds.

Senior co-captain Kizzy Lopez was plagued by foul trouble, playing only 19 minutes. She finished with four points and four rebounds.

Jamila Newman led the 4-1 Demons with 16 points and seven rebounds. Angela Davidson netted 13 points, while Kia Converse finished with 10 points, including an offensive rebound hoop that gave Northwestern State a 64-60 lead with 1:13 left in overtime.

Veilleux scored a layup off her own steal to cut the deficit to two with 43 seconds remaining, but Grover was unable to get off a good shot while being double-teamed at the buzzer.

“We had a chance to have the shot to win the game and they came out and trapped us and we didn’t handle the trap very well,” Versyp said. “We tried to pass over it and scurried and we didn’t have a good look at the basket.”

UMaine, which led 29-20 at one point in the first half, missed five shots and had two turnovers during the last 1:41 of regulation with the score tied 58-58.

Northwestern State shot only 32 percent from the field and missed 12 of 26 free throws while committing 24 turnovers. Six players registered three steals.

Demons 64, Black Bears 62 (OT)

Maine (2-2) Northwestern State (4-1) Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP Ernest 4 8 3 4 11 Means 2 4 1 6 5 Lopez 2 5 0 0 4 Converse 4 17 0 0 10 Veilleux 6 16 4 4 18 Callais 2 6 2 2 6 Geraghty 3 9 6 6 12 Newman 5 10 6 8 16 Grover 3 9 0 0 6 Davidson 6 16 0 0 13 Heon 1 5 0 1 6 Vernon 0 1 4 4 4 Moldre 0 1 0 0 0 Dobin 2 11 1 4 6 Guerrette 1 1 2 2 5 Grieder 0 0 0 0 0 Stone 1 4 0 0 3 Evans 0 0 0 0 0 James 0 3 1 2 1 Swanigan 2 7 0 2 4 Totals 21 61 16 19 62 Totals 23 72 14 26 64

Maine 33 58 62

Northwestern State 33 58 64

3-pt. goals: Maine (4-8): Lopez 0-1, Veilleux 2-3, Geraghty 0-1, Heon 0-1, Guerrette 1-1, Stone 1-1; NW State (4-17): Converse 2-10, Davidson 1-4, Dobin 1-3

Attendance: 742