ORONO – The wins had been coming a bit too easily of late for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

And when you’re the No. 1 team in the conference, you have to expect the best effort from every single opponent.

Hartford gave the Black Bears all they could handle Saturday afternoon, but UMaine kept its composure before eventually pulling away in overtime for a 74-64 America East victory at Alfond Arena.

A crowd of 3,382, the largest women’s basketball turnout at Alfond in two years, cheered as UMaine limited the Hawks to one basket in the extra period while posting its 10th consecutive victory.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s squad improved to 14-4 overall, 7-0 in conference play, heading into Wednesday night’s contest at New Hampshire.

“Right now everybody wants to take us out; we’re undefeated in our league,” said UMaine’s Heather Ernest. “It was good for us to be pushed. We still have a lot that we need to improve on.”

Hartford, coached by WNBA standout and former Connecticut All-American Jennifer Rizzotti, gave the Bears fits with its quick, guard-oriented lineup. However, the Hawks (4-14, 2-5 AE) seemed to run out of gas in overtime, missing two front ends of bonuses and shooting 1-for-5 from the floor.

“In overtime we only let them score one field goal,” Versyp said. “That’s how we should have played a little bit earlier, but that’s what won it in the overtime is our defense.”

Ernest was a workhorse against Hartford’s undersized frontcourt. The junior forward from Temple registered her seventh double-double, scoring a game-high 24 points and snatching 13 rebounds.

Four of those rebounds came in overtime.

Melissa Heon scored 16 points, grabbed six boards, and made three steals for the Bears, while Kim Corbitt contributed 11 points and five assists. Freshman Abby Schrader chipped in with seven points and six rebounds.

UMaine, which outrebounded Hartford 39-34, committed a season-low nine turnovers, including only one in the final 25 minutes. The Bears held a 20-9 edge from the foul line, making only 20 of 30.

“We needed a game like this,” Versyp said. “Our kids really did a great job fighting through [the adversity].”

The overtime was all UMaine. Heon’s driving layup, which was sandwiched by the two missed Hartford free throws, gave the hosts the lead for good at the 4:18 mark.

Julie Veilleux’s foul-line jumper, two Schrader foul shots and a Corbitt free throw pushed the lead to 66-59 with 2:01 left and the Bears later extended the advantage to 10.

Five different players scored for UMaine in overtime.

“In overtime, I think that we wanted it more than they did and we just became extremely aggressive,” Ernest said.

The 64 points were the most surrendered by UMaine since a 78-72 win over Buffalo on Jan. 4. Hartford’s 43.3 shooting percentage was the highest against the Bears in league play this season.

UMaine, which led by as many as six points and trailed by as many as seven in the first half, had a chance to win the game in regulation. However, Ernest missed a layup with 55 seconds left and Corbitt clanged two free throws 26 seconds later to let the Hawks hang around.

Angie Pezzetta sent the game into overtime by scoring a driving layup with 13.5 seconds remaining. Monica Peterson’s foul-line jumper missed on the Bears’ final possession of regulation.

Senior guard Pezzetta provided the spark for Hartford, connecting for 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Erika Messam added 11 points.

The Hawks successfully executed their offense during a solid first half. A Pezzetta 3-pointer kicked off a 9-0 run that gave Hartford a 26-19 edge with 5:13 left in the half.

UMaine came back to score the next nine points.

“We were down by seven and we could have crumbled and fallen apart, but we didn’t. We stuck it out and came back,” Ernest said. “We definitely didn’t play the type of defense that we should have.”

BLACK BEARS 74, HAWKS 64 (OT)

Hartford (4-14) Maine (14-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Clark 1 6 3 5 6 Heon 7 14 16

Messam 5 8 1 3 11 Ernest 7 15 10 12 24

Pezzetta 10 17 1 2 23 Jay 1 1 2

Eleazer 0 3 0 0 0 Corbitt 4 9 11

Stich 2 8 1 4 5 Veilleux 2 10 1 2 5

Wexler 0 0 0 0 0 Traversi 0 0

Miller 1 4 0 0 2 Geraghty 3 7

Murray 3 5 0 0 8 Peterson 1 2

Whalen 2 3 3 4 9 Schrader 1 7

Totals 24 54 9 18 64 Totals 26 60 20 30 74

Hartford 29 59 64

Maine 30 59 74

3-pt. goals ? Hartford (7-16): Clark 1-2, Messam 0-1, Pezzetta 2-4, Stich 0-2, Miller 0-1, Murray 2-3, Whalen 2-3; Maine (2-10): Heon 1-4, Corbitt 0-1, Veilleux 0-2, Traversi 0-1, Geraghty 1-2

Attendance: 3,382