ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Maine women’s basketball team got solid play on both ends of the floor Saturday afternoon as four Black Bears scored in double figures in a 73-53 victory over Albany in an America East Conference matchup at the Recreation & Convocation Center.

Junior Missy Traversi came off the bench to lead Maine (9-5, 4-0 in America East) with 16 points. She went 6-for-11 from the field and the Bears were 25-for-55 (45.5 percent) overall.

Maine had a 35-31 lead over Albany (3-10, 0-4) with 18:56 remaining in the second half before the Black Bears exploded to score 21 of the game’s next 25 points.

Junior Melissa Heon, who added 11 points and four assists, tallied eight points in that span to give her team the lead for good with 12 minutes left.

The Bears forced 19 turnovers while committing 15.

“I give Maine a lot of credit today for their defensive effort,” Albany head coach Trina Patterson said. “I thought they picked up their defensive intensity in the second half and we were not able to recover.”

Heon made three of her four 3-point attempts to lead Maine in an 8-for-15 effort. Albany native Kim Corbitt recorded six steals, four points, two steals, and a block.

Julie Veilleux of Augusta chipped in with 11 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. The Bears had a 36-33 advantage on the boards.

The Great Danes were trailing by five with 10:44 remaining in the first half, but rallied to tie the contest at 15-15 on Danielle Hutcheson’s layup with 9:07 left. Jen Schumacher ignited the run with a 3-pointer from the right side.

Maine responded by scoring nine of the game’s next 11 points to push its lead to 24-17 with 4:55 left in the first half. Senior Heather Ernest of Temple, who finished with 12 points and three steals, scored five points in that span on a 3-pointer from the top of the key and two free throws.

The Great Danes cut the deficit to two points on Hutcheson’s jumper on the baseline before the Black Bears extended their lead to 31-25 with less than a minute left before intermission. Albany’s Becky Ayers converted two free throws after a technical foul was issued to Heon, who allegedly was punched in the face by an Albany player, but the Black Bears closed out the first half with four unanswered points from Traversi.

Hutcheson recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 20 points and a career-high 16 points.

Albany converted all 12 of its free-throw attempts, setting a school single-game record.

UMaine returns home for Wednesday’s 7 p.m. conference game against Boston University.

BLACK BEARS 73, GREAT DANES 53

Maine (9-5) Albany (3-10)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Ernest 3 9 4 4 12 Learn 3 11 0 6

Veilleux 4 7 2 2 11 Jones 4 9 8

Schrader 3 7 3 5 9 Hutcheson 7 17 6 6 20

Heon 3 6 2 2 11 Schumachr 3 13 9

Corbitt 2 2 0 1 4 Ayers 1 4 4 6

Traversi 6 11 2 2 16 Johnson 0 0 0

Underwood 0 2 0 0 0 Sweetland 0 0

Jay 1 1 0 0 2 James 1 1 0 2

Whittier 0 0 0 0 0 Clark 1 1 2

Gay 0 1 0 0 0 Majors 0 0 0 0

Barker 1 3 0 0 2

Quacknbsh 0 1 0 0 0

Peterson 2 5 2 2 6

Totals 25 55 15 18 73 20 57 12 12 53

Maine 35 73

Albany 27 53

3-pt. goals ? Maine (8-15): Heon 3-4, Ernest 2-2, Traversi 2-5, Veilleux 1-2, Underwood 0-1, Barker 0-1; Albany (1-11): Schumacher 1-7, Jones 0-1, Hutcheson 0-1, Ayers 0-1, Sweetland 0-1

Attendance: 413