BOSTON – There is a finite amount of space available in the offensive half of a basketball floor, but the University of Maine women utilized every inch of hardwood Wednesday night at Solomon Court.

The Black Bears burst onto the floor with tremendous defensive intensity and exhibited crisp execution at the offensive end, using a game-opening 14-0 scoring run as the foundation for a 72-55 America East victory over Northeastern.

UMaine shut down the Huskies’ perimeter attack and shot 47 percent from the field while improving to 12-6 overall, 7-0 in conference play. It was the 23rd consecutive regular-season league win for coach Sharon Versyp’s squad.

“We definitely knew that we wanted to get out to a great start. This team is probably one of the best defenses that we’ll face all year in our conference,” said UMaine senior Heather Ernest of Temple, who finished with 17 points and nine rebounds.

Northeastern (9-7, 3-4 AE) could never get closer than nine points after spotting the Bears the early lead. UMaine’s man-to-man defense held Huskies leading scorers Maralene Zwarich (16.1 points per game) and Melissa Kowalski (10.5 ppg) to a combined 11 points on 3-for-19 shooting.

“Our game plan was exactly what we wanted, take those two out of the game,” Versyp said. “Other people were going to score points and that’s just fine.”

The Huskies received 17 points and seven rebounds from Francesca Vanin, but shot only 31 percent from the floor, including 1-for-13 from 3-point range.

Senior Melissa Heon connected for a game-high 18 points for UMaine, while senior Julie Veilleux of Augusta chipped in with 12 points, four assists and three steals.

Kim Corbitt and Missy Traversi netted seven points each and Monica Peterson added six points and six rebounds in a balanced effort by the Bears. Abby Schrader contributed strong post play and grabbed six boards.

UMaine’s offensive success was the result of implementing a wide offensive scheme that opened up lots of room inside while also isolating defenders on the perimeter.

“Coach knew that they were going to play us tight, they were going to come up and pressure us,” Heon said. “By bringing our offense up and starting it at the 3-point line, it enabled everybody to have that 1-on-1 game that we have.”

Heon nailed two 3-pointers and Ernest added two baskets as UMaine sped to the 14-0 lead. The Bears made eight of their first 11 shots while running away to a 25-6 advantage midway through the half.

Despite its struggles, Northeastern avoided getting blown out by putting together a 10-2 scoring run. But the Bears shot 50 percent in the half and outrebounded the Huskies 21-15 while taking a 38-26 halftime lead.

Kowalski’s 3-pointer at 18:02 of the second half got Northeastern within nine points at 38-29, but the Huskies’ comeback efforts were complicated by serious foul trouble with starting guards Joi Jefferson and Jody Borrows.

NU hung around behind a determined rebounding effort that produced several second chances, but the hosts didn’t take advantage of their offensive opportunities.

The Bears put together a decisive scoring spurt to take the game in hand. Heon made a fast-break layup and a 3-pointer, while Traversi scored a layup in transition then converted a baseline drive during a 9-2 run that gave UMaine a 63-43 cushion with 3:29 to play.

“We needed to stay wide. When you do that, you’ve got easy shots, easy layups,” Versyp said. “We’re going to set up each player differently, becuase we do have a lot of strengths. It’s clicking. There’s a ball out there for everybody.”

NU kept fighting, but couldn’t get closer than 14 the rest of the way despite uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting (15-for-24) by UMaine, which went 11-for-19 in the second half.

BLACK BEARS 72, HUSKIES 55

Maine (12-6) Northeastern (9-7) 55

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Heon 6 12 3 5 18 Burrows 0 6 0 0

Ernest 8 13 1 2 17 Zwarich 2 13 7

Corbitt 3 8 1 5 7 Kowalski 1 4

Veilleux 2 5 7 8 12 Vanin 7 19 17

Schrader 1 4 2 2 4 Jefferson 3 9

Traversi 3 6 0 0 7 Alexander 0 0

Underwood 0 0 0 0 0 Rogers 1 2 2

Hugstad-Vaa 0 0 0 0 0 Sheppard 3 6

Barker 0 0 1 2 1 Decerbo 3 7 10

Peterson 3 7 0 0 6

Totals 26 55 15 24 72 20 65 14 22 55

Maine 38 72

Northeastern 26 55

3-pt. goals ? Maine (5-13): Heon 3-6, Veilleux 1-2, Traversi 1-3, Ernest 0-1, Corbitt 0-1; Northeastern (1-13): Kowalski 1-3, Zwarich 0-3, Burrows 0-1, Vanin 0-4, Jefferson 0-1, Rogers 0-1

Attendance: NA