BURLINGTON, Vt. – It has been a long, challenging and exhausting season for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

It finally ended Thursday afternoon at Patrick Gym.

Fifith-seeded Hartford wore down the No. 4 Black Bears with smothering man-to-man defense and physical inside play, limiting UMaine to 15 percent second-half shooting on its way to a 70-55 victory in the quarterfinals of the America East Championship.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s gritty but undermanned UMaine squad finished the season 12-16, becoming the first Black Bear team since 1989 to compete in the league tourney and fail to reach the title game.

Hartford (15-13) advances to a Friday semifinal against No. 1 Delaware (23-4).

“We’ve just been through everything. It’s so disappointing to come this far and to end so soon,” said UMaine junior co-captain Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha in summing up the season.

The Bears led 30-27 at halftime, but made only 5 of 33 second-half shots while the Hawks connected at a 48 percent (13-for-27) clip.

“Shooting 5-for-33 in the second half was pretty much the story,” Versyp said. “We had layups. We had open shots. We just didn’t knock them down.”

UMaine also committed 22 turnovers and the Hawks posted a 28-20 rebounding edge in the second half after the Bears held a 24-13 halftime advantage.

Janeka Lopp paced Hartford with 15 points, but it was the post duo of Kenitra Johnson (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Kelly Ann Charles (12 points, 9 rebounds) that burned the Bears inside. Ernestine Austin added 10 points, seven of them from the foul line.

Freshman Heather Ernest of Temple led UMaine with 20 points and nine rebounds, despite facing constant double-teaming underneath. Senior co-captain Kizzy Lopez posted 14 points and five rebounds in 29 foul-marred minutes, while sophomore guard Ellen Geraghty contributed 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Bears shot 26.2 percent (16-for-61) overall, including 1-for-16 from behind the 3-point arc.

UMaine played poorly early, spotting Hartford a 15-5 lead, then fought back and regained the lead. The Bears, who led 26-20 late in the first half, were not able to maintain a high level of play in the second half.

“We kept clawing back and fighting back and we got into the game,” Guerrette said. “In the second half, they just came out with more intensity than we did and we just couldn’t put the ball in the net.

“They just kept subbing people out, subbing people in. I knew that was going to be an issue because we’re only eight people,” she added.

The Hawks held the Bears scoreless for more than four minutes during one stretch, thwarting UMaine’s repeated attempts to get the ball inside to Ernest. Hartford finally began to pull away with a 12-2 scoring run that started with 7:55 remaining.

Leading 48-42, Lopp made two free throws and Johnson scored from close range, pushing the lead to 10. Geraghty answered for UMaine with a fast-break layup, but Hartford’s aggressive style was tough on the Bears.

Lopez and sophomore Anna James fouled out 20 seconds apart, helping Hartford score eight unanswered points that pushed the advantage to 60-44 with 4:16 left.

“I feel like at any point we can go 10 or 11 deep and that’s always been an advantage for us,” said Hartford coach Jennifer Rizzotti. “We just happened to have more people that were able to come off the bench than they had.”

UMaine started slowly, spotting Hartford a 6-0 lead in the first 71 seconds. The Bears continued to struggle, committing seven turnovers in the first 71/2 minutes, while falling behind 15-5.

However, the Bears put together a 16-4 scoring run that included five points each from Geraghty and Ernest, to give UMaine the lead.

“We were really enthused and pumped up for the game, but we weren’t relaxed and we weren’t executing really well and it showed,” Guerrette said.

Hawks 70, Black Bears 55

Hartford (15-11) Maine (12-16)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Lloyd 2 5 0 0 4 Heon 1 8 2 4

Lopp 6 13 3 4 15 Ernest 6 13 8 11 20

Miller 2 8 2 2 6 Guerrette 0 5 0

Johnson 6 8 0 0 12 Lopez 4 11 6 14

Eleazer 1 4 1 4 3 James 0 3 1 1

Austin 1 1 7 8 10 Moldre 0 1 2 2

Charles 4 8 4 5 12 Veilleux 1 4 2

Brickhouse 1 2 1 2 4 Geraghty 4 16 3 7 12

Pezzetta 0 0 0 0 0

Murray 0 0 0 0 0

Scott 0 1 0 0 0

Franks 1 1 2 3 4

Wahlen 0 2 0 0 0

Totals 24 53 20 28 70 Totals 16 61 22 30 55

Hartford 27 70

Maine 30 55

3-pt. goals: Hartford (2-9): Lopp 0-4, Miller 0-3, Austin 1-1, Brickhouse 1-1; Maine (1-16): Heon 0-4, Ernest 0-2, Guerrette 0-3, Veilleux 0-1, Geraghty 1-6