ORONO – The Rider University women’s basketball team raced around the court at Alfond Arena Sunday like a group of last-minute Christmas shoppers at the mall on Dec. 24.

UMaine remained calm amidst the frantic pace, taking advantage of crisp passing and polished low-post play while pulling out an 85-73 nonleague victory in front of 1,635 fans.

Heather Ernest and Monica Peterson connected for 25 points each as coach Sharon Versyp’s Black Bears improved to 5-3 heading into a brief holiday hiatus.

“These are the teams that as a coach I don’t like playing, because there’s not a lot of structure,” Versyp said. “Anything can happen and you have to be ready for everything.”

UMaine got caught up in the rush in the first half, committing 13 turnovers, but settled down after intermission and executed much better.

“They definitely were very uptempo,” Ernest said. “Their transition game was very good and we struggled with that, matching up. Once we calmed down and kind of controlled ourselves, it was layup after layup after layup.”

Ernest, a senior from Temple, made 12 of 18 shots, pulled down 14 rebounds, handed out seven assists and made two steals.

Peterson, a junior from Wilmington, Del., made her first seven shots and went 10-for-11 from the field. She complemented her career-best scoring output with nine rebounds and four assists.

“They were trapping, so whoever went to trap, it just opened the floor up if you cut to the right spot,” Peterson said. “It was just wide-open.”

Melissa Heon also flirted with a “double-double,” contributing 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Kim Corbitt added five assists for the Bears, who shot 50 percent from the floor and held a commanding 55-29 rebounding advantage.

“I was really pleased with the effort and, obviously, our offensive mindset today,” Versyp said.

Ernest scored UMaine’s first 11 points in the second half, but a 5-0 flurry had given Rider (2-7) a 53-49 lead with 14:11 left.

Rider’s scrambling, trapping half-court defense, which had caused UMaine some problems in the first half, wasn’t nearly as effective after the break. The Bears committed only seven second-half turnovers.

Peterson was the catalyst during an 11-2 run that gave UMaine the lead for good. The Bears’ switch from man-to-man into a 1-2-2 zone helped them finally take control.

“We just wanted to give a different look,” Versyp said. “When we got the change of momentum, they really took three very quick shots and we were able to get fast-break points off that.”

Peterson opened the spurt with two foul shots, then hit a fast-break layup off a feed from Bracey Barker.

Tami Trimming threw in a baseline runner for the Broncs, but Peterson countered with two free throws and a rebound basket, then Heon converted a conventional three-point play off a Missy Traversi miss to put the Bears in front 60-55 with 9:51 to play.

The game featured 12 lead changes and nine ties, but UMaine dominated down the stretch. Katie Hall tallied five points to help Rider cut the deficit to 67-65, only to have the hosts post a 12-2 scoring run that put the game out of reach.

Leanne Moore tossed in a game-high 26 points to lead Rider. Katie Hall netted 17 and Tami Coyle added 12, along with six assists and five steals.

BLACK BEARS 85, BRONCS 73

Rider (2-7) Maine (5-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Borel 1 2 4 6 6 Heon 5 11 15

Thomer 0 2 0 0 0 Ernest 12 18 25

Moore 11 19 0 0 26 Corbitt 0 4 0

Hower 0 8 0 0 0 Veilleux 2 6

Hall 6 15 2 2 17 Peterson 10 11 25

Coyle 3 10 5 6 12 Traversi 1 3

Trimming 1 2 0 2 2 Underwood 1 3

Welborn 3 9 0 0 8 Hugstd-Vaa 0 0

Moore 1 2 0 0 2 Barker 2 7 6

Schrader 1 1 2

Totals 26 69 11 16 73 Totals 34 68 13 18 85

Rider 38 73

Maine 38 85

3-pt. goals ? Rider (10-29): Thomer 0-1, Moore 4-5, Hower 0-5, Hall 3-9, Coyle 1-2, Welborn 2-7; Maine (4-14): Heon 1-4, Ernest 0-1, Corbitt 0-1, Veilleux 1-1, Traversi 0-2, Underwood 1-2, Barker 1-3

Attendance: 1,635