DURHAM, N.H. – The University of Maine women’s basketball team was missing a big piece of the puzzle for Wednesday night’s America East game against New Hampshire.

The rest of the pieces still fit together perfectly.

Senior standout Heather Ernest was sidelined with an eye injury, but the Black Bears responded with a 63-50 victory over the Wildcats at Lundholm Gymnasium.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s team improved to 16-5, 11-0 in America East, with its 27th consecutive regular-season win in league play.

Ernest, who leads UMaine averaging 17 points and 9 rebounds, sat out after suffering getting elbowed in the eye Sunday at Binghamton.

“Heather’s out, people stepped up,” Versyp said. “That’s when you feel as a coach that you’re pretty happy … I really think our team played as a team.”

Junior forward Monica Peterson was among those who boosted their output, pacing the Bears with 15 points, 15 rebounds and three steals.

“I guess I figured I’d have to do a little extra, but I just went about the game like I normally do,” said a modest Peterson, who had eight points and 10 rebounds (6 offensive) in the first half.

“It just seemed like the ball was going where I was going,” she said of her rebounding.

Melissa Heon, of nearby Somersworth, N.H., became the 13th female player in UMaine history to score 1,000 career points on a 3-pointer at the 11:52 mark of the first half.

“Yes, we missed [Ernest], she’s a big presence in there, but she helped us out on the bench,” said Heon, who finished with 12 points.

Julie Veilleux contributed 11 points while Kim Corbitt provided nine points, five assists and two steals.

Maren Matthias led UNH (9-11, 5-6 AE) with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Ray Williams added 10 points and three blocks. The Wildcats suffered through a 4-for-15 effort (.267) from the foul line.

UMaine started strong as six different players scored during a game-opening 15-3 run. The Bears never led by fewer than eight the rest of the way and led by as many as 22.

“It wasn’t going to be a big deal, the fact that I wasn’t playing,” Ernest said. “This team knows what it takes to win and there isn’t anything that’s going to get in the way.”

The Bears’ aggressive man-to-man defense again laid the foundation of victory. UMaine bottled up Matthias inside while keeping a hand in the other shooters’ faces. Good rebounding also sparked a productive transition attack.

UMaine, which led 30-22 at halftime, executed well early in the second half during a 9-0 flurry. Peterson hit a foul-line jumper, Corbitt cashed in her own steal with a layup, then Corbitt buried a 3-pointer and Veilleux hit a 12-footer as the Bears made it 39-22 with 17:32 left.

“We were a defensive team that rebounds and gets the outlets and runs and tries to get transition baskets,” Versyp said. “I think that’s the best thing that we do.”

UMaine’s continued tenacity on defense and in the rebounding yielded steals and a fast pace, which helped the Bears open up a 50-32 bulge with 10:51 left. Peterson was a catalyst.

“She knew that somebody was out, she was going to step up. She’s done it before in people’s absence,” Versyp said.

Heon didn’t find out about the pending career scoring milestone until Tuesday night.

“It was nice to do it at my home in front of my fans, but the win was much more important than my 1,000th point could have been,” Heon said.

Ernest, who expects to play Saturday against Albany, was hurt with about two minutes left Saturday when she caught an elbow in the right eye. She received a cut requiring three stitches below the eye and has been held out ever since as the swelling and redness continue to subside.

BLACK BEARS 63, WILDCATS 50

Maine (16-5) New Hampshire (9-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Veilleux 4 16 2 2 11 Williams 4 10

Peterson 7 9 1 2 15 Matthias 5 12 0 6 10

Schrader 2 5 2 3 6 Edwards 0 3 2

Heon 4 12 2 3 12 Woods 2 6 0 6

Corbitt 4 7 0 0 9 Poulin 1 2 2

Traversi 3 14 0 0 6 Hardy 2 4 6

Underwood 0 0 0 0 0 Johnson 3 8 7

Hugstd-Vaa 0 0 0 0 0 Dillon 0 1 0

Jay 2 4 0 0 4 Clark 3 7 0 7

Barker 0 0 0 0 0 Connolly 0 0

Quackenbh 0 1 0 0 0

Totals 26 68 7 10 63 20 51 15 50

Maine 30 63

New Hampshire 22 50

3-pt. goals ? Maine (4-16): Veilleux 1-3, Schrader 0-1, Heon 2-4, Corbitt 1-1, Traversi 0-7; New Hampshire (6-17): Edwards 0-1, Woods 2-5, Hardy 2-3, Johnson 1-4, Clark 1-4

Attendance: 734