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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Winning at Patrick Gym takes teamwork, poise and intensity. Melissa Heon’s return to the lineup helped the University of Maine augment those key qualities Saturday afternoon.
The senior guard, who missed the last two weeks with a left thumb injury, re-energized the Black Bears, who turned back repeated threats by Vermont on their way to a 66-54 America East women’s basketball victory.
Despite wearing a splint and bandage on the thumb, Heon provided 13 points and four rebounds as UMaine (7-5 overall, 2-0 AE) played one of its most complete games of the season in front of 1,610 fans.
“Having Melissa back, she has a confidence – a heart, spirit, energy – and I think you sensed it,” said UMaine coach Sharon Versyp. “I think you saw a very different type of team coming out today than you did on Wednesday [against Binghamton].”
Heon, the Bears’ emotional leader, was happy to be back.
“They’ve been working me out a lot, so I had the feel, but the game situation’s something that I hadn’t had, so it was awkward, but I think we did pretty well,” Heon said.
Heather Ernest of Temple outdueled Vermont’s Aaron Yantzi in a clash of the league’s top post players, providing 17 points and 13 rebounds. Yantzi paced the Catamounts with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Monica Peterson posted 10 points and 10 rebounds and Kim Corbitt contributed seven points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Julie Veilleux of Augusta added eight points as UMaine’s experience proved the difference.
“We played really unselfish, moved the ball around,” Corbitt said. “For the last few games, we’ve been playing offense for only about 10 seconds, so today we worked the ball around, they played defense longer and I think that helped us out a little bit.”
Lani Boardman of York had 12 points for UVM.
The Bears led by 12 points early in the second half, but the Catamounts rallied. UVM crept within three on four occasions and twice cut the deficit to one.
UMaine refused to let the hosts seize the momentum.
The Bears led 51-46 when Yantzi hit a 13-footer from the lane and Jamilah Corbitt made it a one-point game with a fast-break layup at the 4:56 mark.
After a UMaine timeout, Peterson scored off a spinning move in the lane, then answered a Jamilah Corbitt basket with a clutch hoop from the paint that made it 55-52 with 2:26 remaining.
“The opportunity to really bust out kept slipping away,” said first-year UVM coach Sharon Dawley. “It just didn’t happen. It felt like we were a pass or a rebound short of getting over the hump.”
Veilleux gave the Bears some breathing room on a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:14 to play, then UMaine went 8-for-8 from the foul line down the stretch to clinch it.
“We just played great. We executed the game plan that I presented. We moved the ball around, didn’t look for that first shot. Those are things that I’ve been trying to work on and it all came together.”
UMaine built the win around stingy defense, settling on a 1-3-1 zone that bottled up Yantzi and contested 3-point shots. The Bears showed patience in attacking Vermont’s defensive sets. The Cats played a lot of zone, but went man-to-man for most of the second half.
UMaine earned a 42-29 rebounding advantage that was instrumental in limiting UVM’s transition game. The Bears also sent the Cats to the foul line only three times.
UVM scored 11 unanswered points during a five-minute stretch of the first half, turning a nine-point deficit into a 23-22 lead. However, Heon and freshman Ashley Underwood of Benton hit the last of three straight 3-pointers and Ernest made a foul-line jumper as UMaine regained the lead for good.
BLACK BEARS 66, CATAMOUNTS 54
Maine (7-5) Vermont (6-4)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Heon 4 8 4 4 13 LaRocque 2 7 5
Ernest 7 15 3 5 17 Cuncic 2 7 7
Corbitt 2 8 2 2 7 Yantzi 7 15 14
Veilleux 3 4 0 0 8 Boardman 5 11 0 0 12
Schrader 2 6 1 1 5 McNamara 2 4
Traversi 0 3 0 0 0 Sabourin 0 0
Underwood 2 3 0 0 6 Cross 2 4 6
Hugstad-Vaa 0 0 0 0 0 Battram 0 2 0
Barker 0 1 0 0 0 Corbitt 3 6 6
Peterson 4 9 2 2 10
Totals 24 57 12 14 66 Totals 23 59 54
Maine 32 66
Vermont 25 54
3-pt. goals ? Maine (6-14): Heon 1-3, Corbitt 1-2, Veilleux 2-2, Traversi 0-3, Underwood 2-3, Barker 0-1; Vermont (5-22): LaRoque 1-5, Cuncic 2-7, Boardman 2-5, McNamara 0-1, Sabourin 0-1, Cross 0-1, Battram 0-2
Attendance: 1,61
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