ORONO – The University of Maine women’s basketball team played its home opener at Alfond Arena on Friday night.

And especially at Thanksgiving time, there’s nothing like a little home cooking.

The Black Bears celebrated their homecoming by advancing to the championship game of the Dead River Company Classic with a 72-54 victory over Loyola University of Chicago.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s 1-3 UMaine squad faces Atlantic 10 member St. Joseph’s (2-3), a 41-38 winner over Mississippi State, in tonight’s 7 o’clock championship game.

Mississippi State (1-2) and Loyola (1-2) meet in the consolation game at 4:30 p.m.

“We were anxious for that ‘W,'” said UMaine senior Missy Traversi, who provided a team-high 14 points and had five assists. “We knew it was going to come, but we didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves.”

UMaine placed five players in double figures while shooting 52 percent from the floor, led by Monica Peterson’s 7-for-9 effort and 14 points, to energize an enthusiastic crowd of 2,476.

The offensive balance included 12 points, three assists, and two steals by Kim Corbitt, 10 points, six assists, and five rebounds from Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor, and a 10-point, nine-rebound effort by Abby Schrader. Peterson grabbed nine rebounds as the Bears emerged with a 38-24 edge.

“We need that,” Versyp said of the balance. “You never know who’s going to score, which is a good thing for us. I think that we really shared the basketball and were not selfish and weren’t looking for one person to do it all.”

Meskhenet Lands led Loyola with a game-high 15 points and Danielle Lonie netted 13 to go with six rebounds.

“We battled, we came within 10 a couple times and then just hurt ourselves,” said Loyola coach Mary Helen Walker. “You have to give Maine credit, they executed.”

Loyola, which trailed by as many as 16 in the first half, threatened early in the second half. The Ramblers trimmed the deficit to 41-32 on a running shot by Lands with 17:13 left.

However, UMaine put together an 11-3 run to push its lead to 18. Five different players scored in that spurt.

“I love it, it’s such a great feeling,” Traversi said of playing the home opener. “Just to see everybody out there after we’ve been on the road and to have our families up there [in the crowd].”

The Bears spotted the Ramblers a 3-0 lead, then rattled off 19 unanswered points during a span of 5:19 while pulling out to a 39-25 halftime bulge.

Peterson got things started with a baseline move off a Corbitt pass and she followed with a 17-footer from the baseline. Barker scored from close range off a baseline feed from Traversi, who then stuck a 3-pointer to make it 9-3.

Schrader kept the momentum going, scoring off a lob pass from Barker, who scored the next four points with two free throws and a short turnaround jumper from the lane. Traversi’s 12-footer and a pull-up jumper from the lane by Corbitt closed out the spurt that put the Bears in charge.

UMaine made 14 of its first 20 shots from the floor (70 percent) and, despite going more than six minutes without a field goal late in the half, also played scrappy man-to-man defense while affording the Ramblers only four points over the last 61/2 minutes of the half.

“Getting off to a good start, that sets the tone right away,” Traversi said. “I think that came back to our defense tonight. I think defensively we really set the tone and it resulted in offense.”

UMaine scored 26 of its 39 first-half points from the paint and emerged with a 19-10 rebounding edge.

In the opener, St. Joseph’s played two completely different halves, but still emerged with a hard-fought victory.

The Hawks built an 11-point, first-half lead with deliberate play, then negotiated relentless full-court pressure by the Bulldogs in the second half.

Kelly Springman made three of four foul shots in the final 13.9 seconds and St. Joseph’s held on when Mississippi State’s Tan White missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Hawks dictated the tempo from the outset, holding the ball in the backcourt for at least 10 seconds on every possession. The Bulldogs sat back and waited.

As a result, time clicked off the clock quickly and the number of possessions was limited. St. Joseph’s made the strategy work, using an 11-0 scoring run to build a 22-11 halftime lead.

MSU pressed hard in the second half while battling its way back but couldn’t quite overcome the early deficit.

Maura McBryan paced St. Joseph’s with 10 points and 11 rebounds. White poured in a game-high 26 points for MSU.

BLACK BEARS 72, RAMBLERS 54

Loyola (1-2) Maine (1-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Lands 6 11 2 4 15 Traversi 5 12 3 3 14

Mennella 1 4 0 0 2 Jay 1 6 2

Lonie 5 14 3 4 13 Corbitt 5 7 12

Henderson 3 9 0 0 9 Barker 4 6 10

Real 2 4 0 0 4 Peterson 7 9 14

Hanser 3 4 0 2 6 Underwood 1 3

Harris 1 4 0 0 3 Hugstd-Vaa 1 2

Nabolotny 0 1 0 0 0 Whittier 0 0

Massey 1 2 0 0 2 Elderton 0 2

Pullen 1 1 1 3

Schrader 4 7 10

Totals 22 53 5 10 54 Totals 29 56 12 14 72

Loyola 25 54

Maine 39 72

3-pt. goals – Loyola (5-16): Lands 1-2, Henderson 3-8, Harris 1-4, Mennella 0-2; Maine (2-10): Traversi 1-5, Underwood 1-3, Barker 0-1, Elderton 0-1

Attendance: 2,476

St. Joseph’s (2-3) 41

Springman 1-3-6, McBryan 4-1-10, Schutte 3-2-8, Roth 1-0-2, Pollock 3-1-7, Ffrench 1-4-6, Gomez 1-0-2

Mississippi State (1-2) 38

Warren 0-1-1, Burns 1-0-2, McKinney 1-1-3, White 10-4-26, Kates 2-0-4, Chekwa 1-0-2, Ferguson, Reeder, Willoughby, Johnson, Hilliard, Henderson

Halftime: St. Joseph’s 22-11

3-pt. goals – St. Joseph’s (2-11): Springman 1-1, McBryan 1-4, Roth 0-6; Miss. State (2-16): Warren 0-2, White 2-7, Kates 0-5, Ferguson 0-2