STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The University of Maine women’s basketball team was unable to take advantage of two second-half leads as Stony Brook held off the Black Bears 60-52 Sunday afternoon in an America East Conference game at the SBU Sports Complex.

Sherry Jordan scored 19 points to help coach Trish Roberts’ Seawolves win their fourth straight and sixth in the last seven games, and move to 7-4 overall, 1-0 in America East. Stony Brook’s win snaps Maine’s three-game winning streak as the Black Bears fall to 8-5 (1-1). Roberts is a former UMaine coach.

Jordan racked up the points but it was Theresa LoParrino’s 10-for-12 effort from the free-throw line in the second half that helped sink the Black Bears down the stretch. LoParrino finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Sophomore forward Heather Ernest of Temple led Maine with a game-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman forward Monica Peterson chipped in with 11 points.

The Black Bears took a 28-27 lead on a Missy Traversi basket 33 seconds into the second half, but the Seawolves regained the advantage less than a minute later on a putback by Jordan. Peterson connected at the 16:41 mark to regain the lead for Maine but LoParrino tied it up with a free throw. She missed the second shot but Jordan rebounded the miss and put it back for a 32-30 lead.

Melissa Heon tied the game for Maine when she scored off an Ernest pass but a Sara Burkett 3-pointer gave Stony Brook the lead for good.

Stony Brook led by as much as 10 points in the middle of the second half, but Maine chipped into that with an 8-1 run to make it 45-42 with 8:35 left. Later in the half Ernest hit two free throws to make it 51-48 with 5:09 to go. But the Black Bears were deflated a bit on the following play, in which sophomore Julie Veilleux stole the ball from Stony Brook’s Erika Shipley and in a 3-on-1 situation, passed it to Traversi, who passed it to Monica Peterson, who missed a layup.

From there the Seawolves went on a 5-0 run that ate up almost 31/2 minutes of the clock.

Kim Corbitt ended Maine’s skid with a fast-break basket that started with a Pam Cruz steal to make it 56-50, but fouls sent Stony Brook to the free-throw line (LoParrino made two free throws with 1:06 to go). The Black Bears went to their perimeter shooters; senior guard Tracey Guerrette of St. Agatha was fouled on a 3-point try and made two of three free throws to cut the Stony Brook lead to 58-52, but Heon missed two 3-pointers with less than 30 seconds to go.

Stony Brook center Jill George, who ranks second among America East players with 9.8 rebounds per game, scored 11 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. The Seawolves outrebounded the Black Bears 45-35.

The big rebounding difference came on the offensive boards, where Stony Brook had 22 while Maine had 10. The Seawolves racked up 13 second-chance points in the second half to six for Maine.

Field-goal percentage was off for both teams, although at 36 percent Maine shot slightly better than Stony Brook (32.2 percent).

Maine’s Anna James, who had been dealing with an undisclosed illness, played for the first time this season. The junior forward logged four minutes of time and did not take a shot.

SEAWOLVES 60, BLACK BEARS 52

Maine (8-5) Stony Brook (7-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Ernest 8 16 6 7 23 DeGiorgio 2 5

Veilleux 0 4 0 0 0 Jordan 7 20 19

Moldre 0 2 0 0 0 George 4 9 11

Traversi 2 8 0 0 4 Shipley 2 5 5

Guerrette 1 4 2 3 5 LoParrino 1 15 10 12 13

Heon 1 4 0 0 2 Burkett 1 2 0 3

Corbitt 3 5 1 2 7 Metz 2 3 4

James 0 0 0 0 0

Cruz 0 0 0 0 0

Peterson 3 7 5 6 11

Totals 18 50 14 18 52 19 59 19 29 60

Maine 24 52

Stony Brook 27 60

3-pt. goals: Maine (2-12): Ernest 1-2, Guerrette 1-4, Veilleux 0-1, Heon 0-2, Traversi 0-3; Stony Brook (3-14): Shipley 1-2, Burkett 1-2, LoParrino 1-6, DeGiorgio 0-2, Jordan 0-2

Attendance: 637