MISSOULA, Mont. – For the last four seasons, Heather Ernest, Melissa Heon, and Julie Veilleux served as the nucleus of the University of Maine women’s basketball team, eventually leading it to the 2004 America East championship.

Saturday night, 12th-ranked Texas Tech shut down the Black Bears’ outstanding senior trio.

UMaine’s seniors combined for only seven points as the fourth-seeded Lady Raiders advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a hard-fought 60-50 victory in front of 7,413 fans at Dahlberg Arena.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s team, the No. 13 seed in the Mideast Region, finished the season at 25-7.

“They competed extremely well, had an opportunity to beat one of the top teams in the country,” Verysp said. “They’re obviously a very dominating team, but I thought we played right with them, had a great opportunity and we challenged them.”

Texas Tech (25-7) advances to today’s 9 p.m. game against No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech, which held on to beat host Montana 81-77.

Juniors Missy Traversi and Monica Peterson were superb, helping keep UMaine in contention in spite of the seniors’ combined 2-for-21 shooting (9.5 percent). Traversi connected for a game-best 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while Peterson posted 15 points and nine rebounds.

“Usually when we play and people aren’t shooting so well, others will pick it up,” Heon said. “Missy had a wonderful game shooting the ball and Monica played wonderful, too.”

Ernest, Heon, and Veilleux, who had combined to average 35 points during the regular season, simply had a tough night.

“When you shoot 1-for-9, it’s not pretty,” Ernest said. “They did a great job double-teaming, and I forced a couple shots that weren’t good shots. Lucky for me, my teammates were picking up the slack, boarding my missed shots, but Texas Tech did a great job.”

Coach Marsha Sharp’s squad featured strong, agile post players and quick guards and played tenacious man-to-man defense. Freshman Alesha Robertson led Texas Tech with 16 points, Casey Jackson contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds, and LaToya Davis added 11 points, seven rebounds, and four steals.

The Raiders’ defense kept Ernest bottled up by double-teaming in the paint and effectively prevented UMaine’s guards from getting open 3-point looks or dribble-penetrating.

“When we went and guarded them, we wanted to make sure to get up under ’em and make them try to penetrate and attack us,” Sharp said. “We didn’t want them to be able to sit out there and shoot the 3-point shot.”

The Bears, who shot 34 percent from the field, also struggled at the foul line. UMaine, which ranks eighth in Division I with a .767 free-throw percentage, made only 10 of 18 from the line.

“It was very frustrating,” Versyp admitted. “The kids were focused, it just wasn’t falling for them. Sometimes that happens and [the misses] got to us.”

UMaine established early that it could play with Texas Tech, but the Lady Raiders used a potent inside attack and transition game to build a 39-30 lead with 14:44 remaining.

That’s when Traversi jumpstarted the Bears’ offense, scoring a layup in transition and adding a foul shot to kick off an 8-2 run. TTU’s Jackson countered with an offensive rebound hoop, but Veilleux scored a fast-break layup off a Traversi feed, Peterson made a free throw and Traversi scored off a Heon miss to get UMaine within three at 41-38 with 11:41 left.

“As a team, we just didn’t want to show up, we wanted to compete with this team and we did that tonight,” Traversi said. “I want to give my team the boost they need. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough tonight.”

The Raiders survived the run, holding the Bears scoreless for the next 61/2 minutes. UMaine had a chance to tie or regain the lead, but came up empty on three straight possessions.

Texas Tech, battle-tested with close games all season in the powerful Big 12, scored the next six points to push its lead back to nine. The Bears couldn’t get closer than six after that and the Raiders made 11 of 14 free throws in the final 3:38 to preserve the victory.

“When it was 41-38 I thought we had a little [momentum], some runs going on, and we just didn’t get over that hump, but I’ll tell you we battled,” Versyp said.

Heon tried to sum up what it was like to see the careers of she and her classmates come to an end.

“Obviously, you want to end it on a better note,” Heon said. “It’s been wonderful and I have met lifelong friends here and I love the University of Maine and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

LADY RAIDERS 60, BLACK BEARS 50

Maine (25-7) Texas Tech (25-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Ernest 1 9 1 4 3 Dabbs 3 11 6

Veilleux 1 8 0 0 2 Jackson 5 9 13

Peterson 7 14 1 2 15 Ayers-Curry 1 2

Heon 0 4 2 2 2 Grant 0 5 4 4

Corbitt 1 5 0 1 2 Ritchie 0 5 4

Traversi 7 12 4 5 20 Baughman 1 2

Underwood 0 1 1 2 1 Clark 1 1 2

Hugstd-Vaa 1 1 0 0 2 Davis 5 7 11

Schrader 1 2 1 2 3 Robertson 4 10 16

Totals 19 56 10 18 50 Totals 20 53 20 28 60

Maine 25 50

Texas Tech 29 60

3-pt. goals ? Maine (2-8): Traversi 2-4, Ernest 0-1, Veilleux 0-1, Corbitt 0-1, Underwood 0-1; Texas Tech (0-8): Grant 0-1, Baughman 0-2, Robertson 0-2, Ritchie 0-3

Attendance: 7,413