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ORONO – Sharon Versyp woke up Thursday morning and saw two deer in her backyard.
The sighting inspired the coach of the University of Maine women’s basketball team, who figured it had to be a good omen for her Black Bears.
Versyp used an afternoon meeting to create renewed optimism among the team members, who were encouraged not to dwell on the fact they had suffered five straight losses.
UMaine responded with a gritty defensive performance, limiting Drexel to 28 percent shooting Thursday night on its way to a 75-67 America East victory in front of 2,136 fans at Alfond Arena.
The Bears, playing mostly with man-to-man, slowed down the league’s most prolific scoring team, improving to 5-11 overall, 2-5 in conference play. Drexel dropped to 9-5 and 5-2, respectively.
“This is a huge confidence-builder,” said freshman Heather Ernest of Temple, who scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while posting her 10th double-double of the season.
“For the past I don’t know how long, the speech has been, ‘we’re getting there, we’ve just got to put it all together, it’s coming, tough loss.’ We were getting kind of sick of hearing that song.”
Versyp helped UMaine take the floor with a more relaxed, confident approach.
“I told them that all we have been worried about collectively is the outcome, rather than the process; the process of getting better; the process of encouraging one another,” Versyp said.
“I’m just so happy that they put it together and got a win, because it’s all about them,” she added.
Senior co-captain Kizzy Lopez connected for 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for UMaine, while junior co-captain Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha scored 10 points and patiently ran the offense in the face of constant defensive pressure.
Anna James was outstanding on the defensive end, helping to slow the Dragons’ post game. She finished with eight points. Melissa Heon chipped in with seven points.
“Coach was really great,” Lopez said. “She opened up to us and gave us some new things to try and think about. It was a really good day and the team was really pumped up. We were just ready to go.”
Michelle Maslowski led Drexel with 23 points and nine rebounds, whille Katrina Martin contributed 20 points and 14 boards. The Dragons outrebounded the Bears 51-42, but couldn’t establish an offensive flow.
“We didn’t look very good tonight, did we? I can’t believe we shot 28 percent (21-for-75),” said Drexel coach Candace Crabtree.
“I think [Maine] played pretty good defense,” she added. “… We really looked very discombobulated and very passive.”
The Bears held the Dragons nine points below their season average, bottling up Drexel’s potent inside game long enough to build a 15-point, first-half lead.
UMaine committed a season-low 14 turnovers.
erased the deficit, rattling off 13 unanswered points during a span of 4:11. Martin and Steph Frysinger scored four points each during the rally, which gave the Dragons a 43-42 lead with 12:32 remaining.
The Bears regrouped. Trailing 49-47, Guerrette’s 3-pointer from the left wing opened a 10-2 flurry that gave the Bears a 57-51 lead with 7:05 to play. Heon nailed a 19-footer, Ernest made a baseline layup, Lopez hit a foul shot, and Ernest converted two free throws to give UMaine a 57-51 lead.
Drexel challenged again, but couldn’t get closer than two down the stretch. UMaine made 30 of 38 free throws, while Drexel went 23-for-28 in a foul-marred contest that had players, coaches and fans from both teams grumbling.
“Our kids just really put a nice game together, as they would probably say, finally,” Versyp said.
Ernest, a rangy 6-foot-1 forward, scored 13 points in the final 8:37 and went 11-for-12 from the foul line in the game. She also came up with three steals.
Black Bears 75, Dragons 67
Drexel (9-5) Maine (5-11)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP
Frysinger 2 10 1 2 5 Ernest 6 13 11 12 23
Martin 6 15 8 8 20 Guerrette 4 6 10
Welborn 1 6 0 0 3 Lopez 7 13 4 10 18
Wilkins 2 7 1 2 5 Stone 0 6 2 2
Maslowski 6 13 11 13 23 James 1 7 8
McGinty 2 4 2 2 6 Heon 2 5 2 7
Scanlan 1 8 0 0 3 Moldre 1 2 0 2
Mazzie 0 3 0 0 0 Veilleux 0 2 0
McIntyre 1 9 0 1 2 Geraghty 0 5
Totals 21 75 23 28 67 Totals 21 56 30 38 75
Drexel 26 67
Maine 36 75
3-pt. goals: Drexel (2-14): Frysinger 0-1, Welborn 1-5, Maslowski 0-1, Scanlan 1-7; Maine (3-6): Guerrette 2-2, Heon 1-2, Geraghty 0-1
Attendance: 2,136
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