Free throws lift Bears past ‘Cats

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ORONO – Getting to the foul line often and taking advantage of those opportunities are two key ingredients for winning basketball games.

The University of Maine women proved that Thursday night, converting 27 of 33 foul shots on its way to a 67-55 America East victory over New Hampshire at Alfond Arena.

With the whistle blowing often (44 fouls), coach Sharon Versyp’s 7-4 Black Bears eventually broke the grip of the game’s plodding pace in the second half to win their conference opener.

“You definitely tell it was an America East game tonight. It was a battle from the beginning all the way to the end,” Versyp said. “The second half we finally started playing the way we’re capable of playing.”

UMaine shot 82 percent from the line against New Hampshire (5-7, 0-1 AE), which made only 13 of its 24 free throws (54 percent). The Bears outrebounded the Wildcats 41-33.

“I thought it was a real physical game and that put a lot of pressure on the referees to make calls and I think they had a big impact on the game,” said UNH coach Sue Johnson. “Maine got to the line a lot more than we did. I think that was the story of the second half.”

The Bears, who went 22-for-27 from the foul line in the second half, finally sped up the game by harrassing the ‘Cats with full-court pressure and cashing in on their transition opportunities.

Heather Ernest scored nine points during a key 11-0 run that enabled the Bears to finally generate some emotion for the home crowd and build a 10-point lead. Ernest, a junior from Temple, led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds. She was 10 of 14 from the foul line.

Julie Veilleux of Augusta contributed 16 points, while heady point guard Kim Corbitt provided a strong floor game with 12 points and five assists.

“The second half we came out and started to run and that is our game,” Ernest said. “We need to rebound defensively and get it out and go, because that’s what we do best right now.”

Corbitt, who has struggled a bit from the line this season, went 6-for-6 from the stripe.

“I think it’s just confidence,” Corbitt said. “Sometimes you step to the line and you’re like, ‘aw why am I at the foul line again?’ But today it was like, ‘I’ll knock these down.'”

Maren Matthias, Geneva Livingston and Aubrey Danen tossed in 12 points apiece for the Wildcats, the league’s worst foul-shooting team. Matthias grabbed 11 rebounds and Danen pulled down 10.

UMaine began to generate some momentum six minutes into the second half. Ernest knocked down five of six foul shots in a span of 57 seconds and then scored from underneath off a Monica Peterson feed as the Bears turned a 35-34 deficit into a 45-35 lead with 11:39 to play.

UMaine’s pressure began paying dividends as UNH turned the ball over on five of six possessions during the same stretch.

“We knew we had to pick up the defensive intensity, because our defense creates our offense, so we did that and got some fast-break points and that helped us out a bit,” Corbitt said.

The Bears extended the lead to as many as 14 points (52-38) with 5:12 remaining, but the Wildcats rallied to within six with 3:54 left, led by five points from Livingston. The Bears were able to re-establish their advantage by making 11 of 12 foul shots in the final 3:17.

“The last four minutes of the game, it’s going to come down to free throws and execution,” Versyp said. “That was a key.”

The first half was devoid of any flow, but the Bears took a 23-22 edge into the locker room.

The Wildcats were able to slow down the Bears, and the game, early by implementing a 2-3 zone defense. UMaine outrebounded UNH 20-15, but was unable to generate its preferred transition style save for a couple of occasions.

The Bears applied some full-court pressure, but couldn’t get the game out of the slow half-court tempo it seemed destined to follow.

UMaine’s man-to-man defense did a good job of making UNH work hard for open shots and the Wildcats eventually opted to play man-to-man and were equally successful.

The hosts led by as many as six points early, but suffered through a scoreless drought of almost seven minutes before Ernest made a 6-foot turnaround shot from the lane to give UMaine a 19-17 lead with 2:55 left in the half.

The Wildcats also had trouble finding the bottom of the net while failing to score for nearly six minutes, most of which coincided with UMaine’s offensive woes.

The Bears shot only 32 percent (9-for-28) from the floor in the half and committed eight turnovers. UNH shot 40 percent (8-for-20) and coughed up the ball nine times. The ‘Cats also cost themselves a chance to stay ahead because of a 4-for-10 effort from the foul line.

BLACK BEARS 67, WILDCATS 55

New Hampshire (5-7) Maine (7-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Mullen 1 9 3 4 6 Heon 1 5 3

Caschera 1 2 1 2 4 Ernest 8 16 10 14 26

Adams 3 7 2 4 9 Jay 0 1 0

Danen 5 12 0 0 12 Corbitt 3 4 12

Matthias 5 11 2 9 12 Veilleux 6 10 4 5 16

Hardy 0 1 0 0 0 Traversi 0 4

Rappoport 0 0 0 0 0 Geraghty 0 0

Livingston 3 9 5 5 12 Peterson 0 2

Woods 0 0 0 0 0 Schrader 2 4

Poulin 0 0 0 0 0

Jarvis 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 51 13 24 55 20 51 27 33 67

Halftime: Maine 67-55

3-pt. goals: New Hampshire (6-17): Danen 2-4, Livingston 1-2, Caschera 1-2, Mullen 1-4, Adams 1-4, Hardy 0-1; Maine (0-7): Ernest 0-1, Heon 0-2, Veilleux 0-2, Traversi 0-2

Attendance: 1,599