DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team knew maintaining its intensity would be a key Wednesday night against UMaine.

The Wildcats showed plenty of grit, but the Black Bears simply had too much depth and offensive firepower. The result was a 69-52 UMaine victory in an America East game at Lundholm Gymnasium.

Heather Ernest of Temple connected for a game-high 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season, as UMaine earned its 11th straight victory.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s 15-4 Bears, 8-0 in conference play, now hold a 31/2-game lead over second-place Vermont and Boston University. New Hampshire dipped to 7-12, 2-6 in America East.

UMaine is playing with tremendous confidence.

“If you go out and you expect to win and you have that swagger about you, it’s hard to beat you,” said UMaine’s Melissa Heon. “You don’t get that unless you have a season like we’ve been having.”

UMaine came out firing, built a 15-point halftime lead and then withstood a second-half charge by the Wildcats before using its depth to pull away.

“You look across the league, they have the most depth,” said UNH coach Sue Johnson. “You get to February and people are starting to fatigue. I think it really makes a difference when you can get fresh legs in there.”

UMaine used nine players in its regular rotation, with only Heon and Ernest playing 30 minutes or more. Heon, who grew up in nearby Somersworth, celebrated her homecoming by scoring a season-high 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting accuracy.

“It’s very nice to play well in front of my family and my friends. That feels really good,” Heon said.

Abby Schrader was solid defensively and provided nine points and five rebounds for UMaine. Missy Traversi added eight points and Kim Corbitt dished out four assists for the Bears, who were plagued by 22 turnovers.

Center Maren Matthias led the Wildcats with 13 hard-earned points and 10 rebounds, while Geneva Livingston scored 13. Aubrey Danen added nine points, including the 1,000th of her career.

UNH shot a dismal 6-for-16 (38 percent) from the foul line.

The Bears, leading 39-24 at halftime, made three turnovers in the first 21/2 minutes of the second half to help fuel an 8-2 UNH scoring run that cut the deficit to 41-32 with 15:08 remaining.

Heon was the catalyst as the Bears re-established a more comfortable lead. She sandwiched a layup and an 18-foot jumper around a close-range hoop by Matthias.

Heon then followed a Schrader foul shot with a fast-break layup as UMaine went up 48-34 with 12:03 to play.

“I think depth is very important for us and we need that more and more as we head into tournament time,” Ernest said.

The Wildcats refused to fold as Ebony Woods later drained a 3-pointer amidst an 8-1 flurry that trimmed UMaine’s lead to 53-44 with 8:48 left. However, the Bears buckled down on defense against the tiring Wildcats and kept clicking offensively while pulling away.

“Maine has a lot of offensive weapons; you’re not going to hold them down forever,” Johnson said of the Bears, who shot 53 percent.

In the first half, UMaine utilized its numerous offensive threats to shoot 57 percent, including 71 percent (5-for-7) from beyond the 3-point arc. Traversi’s first 3-pointer kicked off a 9-1 scoring spurt that gave the visitors a 25-13 edge with 8:05 left in the half.

Schrader’s savvy play in the paint led to six points that sparked the Bears to a 14-5 scoring run to end the half.

BLACK BEARS 69, WILDCATS 52

Maine women (15-4) New Hampshire (7-12)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Ernest 8 11 4 5 21 Livingstone 6 16 0 0 13

Veilleux 0 4 0 0 0 Danen 3 10 9

Jay 0 0 0 0 0 Matthias 5 10 11 13

Heon 8 12 0 0 19 Mullen 3 9 0 6

Corbitt 1 3 2 2 4 Cashera 1 3 3

Traversi 3 7 0 2 8 Rappoport 0 0

Hickman 0 1 0 0 0 Woods 2 5 5

Geraghty 1 1 0 0 2 Poulin 1 2 3

Quackenbush 0 0 0 0 0 Jarvis 0 1 0

Peterson 3 3 0 0 6

Schrader 4 11 1 3 9

Totals 28 53 7 12 69 21 56 16 52

New Hampshire 39 69

Maine 24 52

3-pt. goals: Maine (6-10): Heon 3, Traversi 2, Ernest; New Hampshire (4-17): Livingston, Danen, Caschera, Woods

Attendance: 1,030