Black Bears sweep UNH Guard play proves decisive

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ORONO – With two of America East’s top post players squaring off Wednesday night, it might have seemed logical to think Heather Ernest of the University of Maine or New Hampshire’s Maren Matthias would be the big difference.

Instead, it was the Black Bears’ speedy and poised guards who took charge.

Junior guard Missy Traversi scored all of her 11 points in the second half and senior shooting guard Melissa Heon nailed four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 15 points as UMaine cruised to a 67-45 women’s basketball victory in front of 2,610 fans at Alfond Arena.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s 8-5 Bears, now 3-0 in league play, hounded the Wildcats (6-6, 2-1 AE) into 20 turnovers and executed their transition game well while overwhelming a youthful UNH squad.

“We’re very excited about this win tonight,” Versyp said.

Traversi, Heon and Kim Corbitt spearheaded the effort for UMaine, which used both a 1-2-2 zone and some man-to-man defense while limiting the Wildcats to 18 second-half points on 6-for-29 floor shooting.

“When we play that type of defense, that’s what we can do,” Traversi said. “That’s what we have inside us. We just have to keep playing like that.”

UNH connected on only eight field goals during the last 29 minutes of action.

“I think the biggest issue was we didn’t execute well against their zone and our guards didn’t shoot well,” said UNH coach Sue Johnson.

Ernest finished with 13 points and five rebounds against the Wildcats’ double-teaming, while Matthias was plagued by foul trouble and wound up with 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes.

Ten different players scored for the Bears, who posted their 19th consecutive AE regular-season victory. Monica Peterson contributed five points and eight rebounds, Corbitt posted six points, four assists and two steals, and Abby Schrader added four points and five boards.

Junior center Nicole Jay also gave UMaine some quality minutes coming off the bench.

Former Nokomis High of Newport star Danielle Clark of Corinna tossed in 10 points, including three 3-pointers, for UNH while Salee-Marie Johnson chipped in with 10 points. The ‘Cats outrebounded the Bears 38-36.

“I knew Dani would play well tonight,” Johnson said. “She’s a competitor and she’s done real good things for us this year. She feeds off of this type of situation.”

UMaine took control by scoring the first eight points of the second half to take a 38-27 lead. Matthias eventually got UNH on the board, but the Bears’ surge continued as Traversi hit a 3-pointer and a conventional three-point play to give UMaine a 46-31 bulge with 12:39 left.

“It was really good that she played as well as she did tonight,” Versyp said of Traversi.

“[Traversi, Corbitt and Heon] brought a lot of energy, got a lot of fast-break points on turnovers,” she added.

The Bears emerged with an 18-8 edge from the foul line and scored 24 points directly off UNH turnovers.

The Wildcats’ offensive woes continued, which allowed the Bears to rebound, run and aggressively attack the basket. The result was numerous UNH fouls as UMaine extended the lead to 57-36 with 8:28 to play.

New Hampshire, behind two Clark 3-pointers, had raced to an early 11-2 lead. The Wildcats bottled up UMaine’s inside game, limiting Ernest to four first-half points.

BLACK BEARS 67, WILDCATS 45

New Hampshire (6-6) Maine (8-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hardy 0 2 0 0 0 Heon 5 10 15

Woods 0 3 2 2 2 Ernest 4 8 13

Poulin 0 1 0 0 0 Corbitt 3 7 6

Clark 3 10 1 2 10 Veilleux 1 4

Matthias 6 12 1 1 13 Schrader 1 4

Edwards 1 9 0 0 2 Traversi 4 11

Johnson 3 9 3 6 10 Underwood 0 0

Dillon 1 2 0 0 3 Jay 0 0 1

Williams 2 4 1 2 5 Whittier 0 0

Connolly 0 1 0 0 0 Gay 1 2 2

Barker 1 4 3 6

Peterson 1 3 5

Totals 16 53 8 13 45 Totals 21 54 18 23 67

New Hampshire 27 45

Maine 30 67

3-pt. goals ? New Hampshire (5-23): Hardy 0-2, Woods 0-3, Clark 3-7, Edwards 0-4, Johnson 1-5, Dillon 1-1, Connolly 0-1; Maine (7-17): Heon 4-7, Ernest 1-1, Corbitt 0-2, Veilleux 0-2, Traversi 1-1, Underwood 0-1, Barker 1-3

Attendance: 2,610