UMaine defense stifles BU to notch ninth straight

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BOSTON – Lately, it doesn’t seem to matter which team the University of Maine women’s basketball team plays, or where. The Black Bears are on a roll.

UMaine extended its winning streak to nine games Wednesday night, riding its smothering defense to a 59-37 America East victory over Boston University in front of 287 fans, most of them UMaine supporters, at Case Gym.

Sharon Versyp picked up her first Boston coaching win in five tries as the Bears improved to 13-4, 6-0 in conference play, while extending its lead in the AE standings to 2 1/2 games.

Sophomore point guard Kim Corbitt set the tone for the Bears at both ends of the floor. She hounded BU’s guards with relentless defensive pressure and sparkled with her decision-making on the offensive end.

“The bottom line is, we just play hard,” Versyp said. “When we play hard, we make things happen.”

Corbitt scored only three points, but handed out a career-best nine assists, grabbed six rebounds, made two steals and blocked a shot. The Bears limited BU to an abysmal 18.5 percent shooting (10-for-54).

“I thought I was a pretty good player, but I don’t know if I’d want to go against Kim Corbitt,” said Versyp, who played at Purdue. “Kim just eats people up, which is good for us because then the rest of the defense really takes off from there.”

Heather Ernest of Temple was again UMaine’s go-to player in the post. The junior forward scored 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season.

Julie Veilleux of Augusta connected for 12 points, while Monica Peterson contributed eight points and 10 rebounds.

Adrienne Norris paced BU (7-11, 4-3 AE) with 13 points, including a 9-for-10 effort from the foul line, and five rebounds. Katie Terhune, the league’s No. 2 scorer at 18.2 points per game, was limited to four points.

UMaine disrupted BU’s offensive flow during a cohesive first half. The Bears forced the hosts into anemic 16 percent shooting with in-your-face, man-to-man pressure.

“Our defense is what makes us tick,” Ernest said. “We play tough, aggressive defense and that gets it going on offense.”

UMaine negotiated BU’s 2-2-1 full-court press behind the heady point guard play of Corbitt. Once the ball was in the frontcourt, the Bears’ pinpoint spacing and passing led to numerous close-range baskets.

Leading 10-5, Missy Traversi ignited what would eventually be a 14-0 run with a fast-break layup off a Corbitt feed. Corbitt then scored off her own steal, before Veilleux knocked down a 19-footer.

“We did a good job in practice trying to emulate their defense,” Corbitt said. “They put a lot of pressure on the ball, and we just got around the first line of defense and it opened up things for us.”

Peterson hit a short jumper from the lane, Ernest scored from the baseline off a nifty foul-line dish from Peterson, and Peterson scored on an offensive rebound. Ernest’s layup from the paint off a Peterson feed made it 24-5 with 10:45 remaining in the half.

BLACK BEARS 59, TERRIERS 37

Maine (13-4) Boston Univ. (7-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Heon 0 3 0 0 0 Lopez 1 5 1 3

Ernest 9 15 2 2 20 Moseley 2 9 6

Jay 0 0 0 0 0 Meinhardt 2 12 6

Corbitt 1 8 1 2 3 Terhune 1 6 4

Veilleux 5 9 2 2 12 Norris 2 8 10 13

Traversi 2 9 0 0 4 Jones 0 0 0

Hickman 1 1 0 0 2 Argentieri 1 3

Geraghty 2 3 2 2 6 Vanderwal 1 2

Gay 0 0 0 0 0 Parr 0 5 0 0

Quacknbush 0 0 0 0 0

Peterson 4 6 0 1 8

Schrader 2 4 0 0 4

Totals 26 58 7 9 59 Totals 10 54 14 20 37

Maine 35 59

Boston University 15 37

3-pt. goals: Maine (0-7): Traversi 0-6, Geraghty 0-1; BU (3-10): Meinhardt 2-5, Argentieri 1-4, Terhune 0-1

Attendance: 287