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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Maine earned its way into the America East women’s basketball title game in surprisingly easy fashion Friday night.
Though the 71-65 final score against No. 4 New Hampshire may not indicate it, the top-seeded Black Bears should be confident and well-rested heading into today’s 4 p.m. championship game No. 3 Boston University. BU beat No. 2 Vermont 68-57 in the second game.
UMaine (25-4), which extended its school-record winning streak to 21 games, is in the championship game for the first time since 2000.
“Very sweet. It’s very exciting,” said UMaine’s Missy Traversi. “We’ve worked hard for this.”
The Bears’ defensive intensity, led by Kim Corbitt and Melissa Heon, helped fuel their transition attack and the result was a lead that reached as many as 22 points early in the second half.
“What they do is just pressure the ball and get out in the passing lanes so it’s very difficult to make the next pass in your offense,” said New Hampshire coach Sue Johnson.
With the contest pretty well in hand, Versyp was able to keep her players fresh by substituting often. Nine Bears played at least 12 minutes, with the starters averaging less than 23 minutes.
“It takes more than five players to win the game,” Traversi said. “The bench, the depth, is very important for us.”
Balance was the key on the offensive end as four players reached double figures, led by Heather Ernest’s 16 points. Corbitt and Heon (5 assists) netted 11 points each, while Traversi chipped in with 10.
Monica Peterson contributed eight points and a team-high eight rebounds while UMaine shot 54 percent from the floor and 71 percent from the foul line.
“It’s great for us to have four or five people scoring in double figures,” Ernest said. “You can’t just shut down two or three people, you have to guard everybody on the floor.”
The Bears were in control at halftime, holding a 35-21 lead. They all but put it out of reach with a 12-1 run early in the second half.
Heon got the spurt rolling with two foul shots, then Peterson hit a foul-line jumper off a Heon feed and scored on a putback. Maren Matthias (27 points, 7 rebounds) hit a foul shot for UNH, but Traversi and Heon connected for 3-pointers 35 seconds apart to make it 47-26 with 14:20 to play.
“When we start playing great defense and they’re not knocking down shots, our running game is the best asset to our team,” Versyp said. “It’s all about defense.”
Shortly thereafter, Versyp went further down her bench. The result was a handful of turnovers and a less-cohesive defensive effort that enabled the Wildcats to make it somewhat interesting.
Geneva Livingston (15 points, 8 rebounds) scored all of her points in the final 10:48 as UNH eventually trimmed the deficit to 65-58 on a Matthias basket with a minute left.
Versyp had gradually reinserted her key players by that point and the Bears made six of eight from the foul line down the stretch to preserve the victory.
“We weren’t nervous at all,” Ernest said of the Wildcats’ comeback.
Versyp admitted trying to rest her regulars as much as possible while giving the other players a chance to play in a big game.
“It’s pretty much a gut feeling as a coach,” she said. “What I try not to do is put three or four inexperienced players on the floor at the same time.”
UMaine’s aggressive man-to-man defense put enough pressure on UNH guards to help force 13 first-half turnovers. Those miscues led to open-court opportunities for the Bears, who scored 18 points off turnovers.
The Wildcats were able to lob the ball down low to center Matthias, who scored 12 points, but the rest of the squad went 2-for-13 from the field.
The Bears were up 24-19 when they embarked on a key 11-0 spurt that included four points each from Ernest and Julie Veilleux.
UNH did not make a field goal during the last six minutes of the half, managing only two Lindsay Adams free throws.
Maine defeated BU twice this season, the first a 59-37 victory over the Terriers in Boston on Jan. 29. The two teams battled on more even terms just last Saturday in their final regular season game in Orono when the Bears had to rally to beat the Terriers 71-62.
In that game, the Terriers took a 39-24 lead at the half, but the Bears rallied and opened the half with two straight 3-pointers from Heon. She went on to finish with a game-high 19 points to lead the Bears as Ernest was held to 11 points due to some double- and triple-teaming from the Terriers.
Katie Terhune and Adrienne Norris led BU with 14 points each.
BLACK BEARS 71, WILDCATS 65
New Hampshire (13-16) Maine (25-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Mullen 2 8 0 0 6 Heon 3 7 11
Caschera 1 3 0 0 2 Ernest 5 7 16
Livingston 6 14 0 0 15 Jay 1 1 2
Adams 2 10 4 6 9 Corbitt 3 8 11
Matthias 9 11 9 13 27 Veilleux 3 6
Hardy 1 1 0 0 3 Traversi 4 10
Woods 1 4 0 0 3 Hickman 0 1 0
Poulin 0 0 0 0 0 Geraghty 1 2
Danen 0 2 0 0 0 Gay 0 3 1
Jarvis 0 0 0 0 0 Quacknbsh 0 0
Peterson 4 6 8
Schrader 2 3 4
Totals 22 53 13 19 65 Totals 26 48 15 21 71
New Hampshire 21 65
Maine 35 71
3-pt. goals ? New Hampshire (8-19): Livingston 3-5, Mullen 2-5, Adams 1-5, Hardy 1-1, Woods 1-1; Maine (4-9): Heon 2-5, Traversi 2-2
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