Traversi, Schrader lead Maine women Bears face Montana in Dead River final

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ORONO – It was a tale of two halves Friday night at Alfond Arena, but the end of the story was a good one for the University of Maine women’s basketball team as the Bears picked up their first win of the season and advanced to the championship game of the Dead River Company Classic.

The Black Bears overcame a sluggish first half in which they shot 1-for-8 from the free throw line and 35 percent from the floor plus a late second half rally by Brown University to come away with a 60-51 victory.

The 1-1 Black Bears go from Brown Bears to Grizzlies as their opponent in Saturday’s tournament title game is 3-0 Montana, which beat Drake University (Ia.) earlier 63-56..

Led by sophomore guard Missy Traversi and freshman forward Abby Schrader, the Bears totally reversed a big halftime disadvantage in rebounds and foul shots.

“Our free throws killed us in the first half,” said Maine head coach Sharon Versyp, who couldn’t explain why her team went from shooting 12.5 percent in the first half to 88.9 from the line in the second.

“If I knew, I would tell you,” she said. “But I have no clue what my players are thinking.”

Schrader started thinking about exploiting the paint, especially after 6-foot Brown forward Nyema Mitchell was called for her fourth foul four minutes into the second half.

“I think the sparks started to fly and I got excited and started taking it to the hole,” said the 6-3 forward. “Having [No.] 55, their best player, out for awhile helped too.”

Schrader, who scored just two points in the first half, scored nine of Maine’s first 13 points in the second half. She finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

“Abby finally stepped up,” Versyp said. “She didn’t play her game today, but in the second half she got us on a little run before she got in foul trouble herself.”

Maine built its lead up to 48-35 with 8 1/2 minutes left, but Brown responded with an 11-1 run in which Mitchell scored eight of her 12 points. But Brown missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3:18 to play and then missed a potential game-tying three-pointer from the corner 30 seconds later.

After scoring nine points in the first half, but only two in the second, Traversi then hit the shot of the game as she took a Melissa Heon pass from the right wing and canned a 3-pointer from the right corner with 2:12 to play.

“It felt really good and it was uplifting for the team I think,” said Traversi, who led Maine with a game-high 20 points. “First half I felt really solid out there, and the second half I started forcing things. Coach told us we needed to dribble penetrate, draw fouls and go to the line. It took us awhile, but we did it.”

Traversi led that effort as she scored six of Maine’s final eight points – all from the foul line – and helped Maine finish the game with its own 11-1 run.

Maine outrebounded Brown 35-19 in the second half after being outrebounded 25-19 in the first and committed 10 fewer turnovers (22 to 32).

Holly Robertson, Brown’s 6-5 sophomore center, was held to four points and two rebounds in the second half after getting 11 and six, respectively, in the first. Maine sophomore forward Monica Peterson helped hold Robertson in check and led Maine with 12 rebounds.

In Friday afternoon’s game, Montana dispatched Drake 63-56 behind the 1-2 punch of Hollie Tyler and Katie Edwards, who scored 16 and 15 points, respectively. Tyler also led the Grizzlies with nine rebounds.

Edwards, a 5-9 freshman guard, came off the bench and grabbed five boards. Sophomore center Crystal Baird came up with 11 points and seven boards off the bench and helped Montana dominate the boards with a 47-30 overall rebounding advantage.

The Drake Bulldogs were paced by Carla Bennett’s 24-point effort. The 6-3 senior center also had eight rebounds. Junior forward Maureen Head chipped in with 10 points and junior guard-forward led the ‘Dogs with nine boards.

(Friday’s first game)

Drake (2-1) 56

Burchill 3-2-8, Head 4-2-10, Sayavongchanh 3-0-7, Mosley, Bennett 8-8-24, Denmon 2-0-5, Franklin, Funk 1-0-2

Montana (3-0) 63

Monaco 0-1-1, Lorenzen 0-2-2, Henkel 3-1-7, McLeod 2-0-4, Tyler 7-2-16, Edwards 6-0-15, Villegas 1-1-4, Keller, Montes 0-3-3, Baird 5-0-11

3-point goals: Drake (2-21): Denmon 1-6, Sayavongchanh 1-7, Head 0-2, Burchill 0-3, Mosley 0-3; Montana (5-12): Edwards 3-6, Villegas 1-1, Baird 1-2, Keller 0-1, Henkel 0-2

Halftime: Montana 31-29

BLACK BEARS 60, BEARS 51

Brown (1-2) Maine (1-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Kelly 1 8 0 0 3 Traversi 5 11 6 6 20

Hayes 1 2 1 1 3 Jay 0 0 0

Robertson 7 14 1 2 15 Veilleux 1 2

Van Kurin 0 2 0 0 0 Geraghty 2 6

Mitchell 6 14 0 2 12 Schrader 4 15 3 4 11

Golston 1 8 7 7 15 Heon 3 9 8

Vocell 0 6 0 0 3 Corbitt 2 6 6

Bates 0 1 0 0 0 Gay 0 1 0

Conrad 0 0 0 0 0 Quacknbsh 0 0

Craigwell 0 0 0 0 0 Peterson 2 7

Totals 20 55 9 12 51 19 65 17 26 60

Brown 18 51

Maine 27 60

3-pt. goals: Kelly, Vocell; Traversi 4, Geraghty

Attendance: 1,883