ORONO – Without having to deal with the kind of swarming full-court pressure that has plagued it in recent games, the University of Maine women’s basketball team went on the attack Friday night.
Sparked by tenacious defense, the Black Bears outscored Towson 29-10 during the first 10 minutes of the second half while cruising to a 75-57 America East victory at Alfond Arena.
UMaine demonstrated defensive intensity and parlayed it into good offensive chemistry while snapping a four-game losing streak. Coach Sharon Versyp’s 3-4 Bears, who improved to 1-1 in conference play, entertains America East favorite Delaware at noon Sunday.
Towson dropped to 0-5, 0-2 in league play.
“There’s no question that I felt that we could get after this team and be extremely aggressive and attack the basket,” Versyp said. “If we don’t get to the foul line, that’s a big part of our game… we shot 21-for-27 [in the second half].”
UMaine exhibited tremendous cohesiveness and teamwork early in the second half, ripping off a 15-2 scoring run that led the Bears with a 60-36 advantage with 9:28 to play.
The hosts were able to come up with a handful of steals generated by their 1-2-2 zone and the Bears were patient and opportunistic while executing at the offensive end.
“I think we needed to push the ball and we pushed the ball a lot better [in the second half],” said freshman Julie Veilleux of Augusta, who scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the second half, seven from the foul line.
“We had a lot of fast-break chances and if you push the ball up, you can get some layups and fouls. I think that made a difference,” said Veilleux, who grabbed eight rebounds.
Senior Kizzy Lopez connected for 10 of her 12 points after intermission as UMaine extended its 31-26 halftime edge. Sophomore Anna James returned from a two-game absence because of a hand injury and scored 11 points. Freshman Heather Ernest contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Ellen Geraghty and Christy Grover (six rebounds) added nine points each.
Junior point guard Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha chipped in with a career-high eight assists and three steals with only two turnovers in 37 minutes.
Freshman guard Melissa Heon and junior center Eva Moldre also played key roles for the Bears. Heon provided seven points, five rebounds and three steals with relentless defense. Moldre pulled down seven rebounds, made two steals and blocked two shots.
“We really believe in her [Heon] and everybody knows she’s going to ‘D’ it up and she’s going to slash to the basket,” Versyp said.
“Eva was able to get some rebounds,” Versyp added. “Her presence in the paint is pretty much intimidating.”
Mia Chapman and Jill McGowan paced the Tigers with nine points each. Towson committed 25 turnovers.
The Bears shot only 38 percent in the first half, but received a noticeable energy boost from Geraghty late in the half. The sophomore guard came off the bench to score nine consecutive points, spearheading an 11-0 flurry that turned a four-point deficit into a 31-24 lead and generated enthusiasm and momentum.
Geraghty scored a fast-break layup off a Tracy Guerrette pass, then went the length of the floor to cash in on an Eva Moldre steal, getting the Bears even at 24-24.
Geraghty wasn’t done as she knocked down a 3-pointer off a Guerrette feed and then cashed in another steal by Moldre while converting a Guerrette pass, completing a streak of nine consecutive points.
James scored from underneath off an inbounds play to make it 31-24 with 1:26 left.
“Ellen brings emotional, spritual leadership to our team,” Versyp said. “Her coming in and playing as hard as she did, that really gave us an opportunity to get going in the right direction.”
The Bears outrebounded the Tigers 23-21 and committed only nine turnovers while Towson had 12. UMaine shot 38 percent from the field, but placed eight players in the scoring column.
Towson turned in a poor 30 percent shooting effort, largely because of its inability to work the ball inside against the Bears’ defense. UMaine played man-to-man and 1-2-2 zone, which was particularly effective late in the half with Moldre, James, Veilleux, Geraghty and Guerrette in the game.
The Tigers fell behind 11-4 early, but put together a 12-2 scoring run starting at the eight-minute mark of the half. Faith Jones scored twice from close range during the spurt, which gave Towson a 24-20 lead.
UMaine outscored Towson 20-10 in the paint, even with Grover limited to five minutes and Heather Ernest playing only 11 after picking up two fouls.
Black Bears 75, Tigers 57
Towson (0-5) Maine (3-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Simpson 2 4 2 2 8 Heon 3 6 1 2 7
Jones 2 6 0 2 4 Ernest 3 10 5 7 11
McGowan 2 19 4 4 9 Guerrette 0 4 1 2 1
Chapman 2 15 4 5 9 Veilleux 3 12 7 8 13
Richardson 2 2 2 4 6 Grover 1 1 7 7 9
Wright 2 3 0 0 4 Moldre 0 1 0 0 0
Haefner 2 7 1 1 5 Lopez 4 7 3 4 12
Forster 0 0 0 0 0 Stone 1 8 0 0 2
Johnson 0 0 1 2 1 Geraghty 4 5 0 0 9
Smyth 0 2 0 0 0 Sobel 0 1 0 0 0
Russell 0 0 0 0 0 James 5 7 1 3 11
Conti 2 3 2 2 6
Jones 1 2 0 0 2
Baron 1 2 1 2 3
Totals 18 56 17 24 57 Totals 24 62 25 33 75
Towson 26 57
Maine 31 75
3-pt. goals: Towson (4-21): Simpson 2-3, McGowan 1-5, Chapman 1-8, Haefner 0-4, Smyth 0-1; Maine (2-8): Veilleux 0-1, Ernest 0-2, Lopez 1-1, Stone 0-1, Geraghty 1-2, Sobel 0-1
Attendance: 2,128
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