Underwood hits six 3s in UM win

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STONY BROOK, N.Y. – A team record-tying six 3-pointers by freshman guard Ashley Underwood and a 73.3 percent (11-for-15) 3-point shooting night overall by the team pushed the University of Maine women past Stony Brook 76-61 Wednesday night.

Senior forward Heather Ernest led the way for Maine with 19 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and two blocks – all game highs – as the Bears improved to 21-6 with one regular-season game remaining (Saturday at Hartford).

“I’m really excited everything is coming together,” said coach Sharon Versyp. “I thought they did a great job. We had livelier legs in the second half and using a lot of people off the bench helped keep us fresh.”

Maine used 11 players in all, seven of whom played 17 minutes or more. Versyp was so pleased with the effort that the team is getting a day off Thursday.

“You need a mental health day and to just get away and enjoy things,” Versyp said. “It’s a week off from school, so we’ll probably drive to Hartford and go out to dinner and see a movie. Friday we’ll go to the [Basketball] Hall of Fame.”

Top-seeded Maine is now 16-1 in America East. Stony Brook is 7-19 overall and 6-11 in conference play under former UMaine coach Trish Roberts.

Underwood was 6-for-7 from 3-point range en route to 18 points. Missy Traversi scored 15 and Kim Corbitt added 13, along with a game-high six assists and just two turnovers.

“I though Kim Corbitt played unbelievable and Ashley making six of seven was phenomenal. We’re really excited about that,” Versyp said.

What she wasn’t excited about was Maine’s final turnover count.

“We need to be under 15 and we had 23 tonight,” she said. “Some of our turnovers were from bad decisions we don’t normally make.”

Maine hit 10 of 14 3-pointers and shot 58.3 percent from the field in the first half and took a 39-26 halftime lead into the locker room. For the game, the Bears shot 46 percent from the field. Despite the drop in shooting percentage, Versyp was pleased with the team’s second-half effort.

“I think our second half is extremely important and we always seem to do a pretty good job in those first four minutes of the second half,” she said.

Maine maintained its lead through most of the second half and finished the game with a 33-31 rebounding advantage of the Seawolves.

Sherry Jordan led the ‘Wolves with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Theresa LoParrino also scored 13.

Melissa Heon chipped in with five assists for the Bears.

BLACK BEARS 76, SEAWOLVES 61

Maine (21-6) Stony Brook (7-19)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Veilleux 0 5 0 0 0 DeGiorgio 2 4

Peterson 2 3 0 0 4 Jordan 3 9 13

Heon 1 4 0 0 2 Smith 4 9 1 9

Ernest 5 12 9 9 19 Booker 1 3 3

Corbitt 4 5 3 4 13 LoParrino 3 13

Traversi 5 10 2 2 15 Barlett 0 0 0

Underwood 6 8 0 2 18 Ford 4 10 10

Hugstad-Vaa 0 1 0 0 0 Watson 3 11 7

Jay 0 0 0 0 0 Bogetic 1 2 0 2

Barker 0 0 2 2 2 Orion 0 0 0

Schrader 0 2 3 4 3

Totals 23 50 19 23 76 Totals 21 53 16 21 61

Maine 39 76

Stony Brook 26 61

3-pt. goals ? Maine (11-15): Underwood 6-7, Traversi 3-5, Corbitt 2-2, Heon 0-1; Stony Brook (3-9): Watson 1-2, Booker 1-2, LoParrino 1-2, Jordan 0-1, Ford 0-2

Attendance: 565