PORTLAND – Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa was recruited by the University of Maine because of her reputation as an outstanding defensive player.

The sophomore from Apple Valley, Minn., making her first collegiate start, demonstrated those talents Saturday.

Hugstad-Vaa was instrumental in shutting out Albany all-league center Danielle Hutcheson in the first half as the Black Bears built a 14-point lead on their way to a 57-42 America East victory in front of 2,143 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Hugstad-Vaa set the tone inside while point guard Kim Corbitt harassed the Great Danes’ point guards from the outset as UMaine responded well after Tuesday night’s loss at New Hampshire.

“I felt that we really came back and played great defense today,” said coach Sharon Versyp, whose Bears are 7-7 overall, 3-1 in conference action.

“Huggy’s just very physical; she’s playing with confidence,” Versyp said. “She pushed [Hutcheson] well away from the basket, which was really significant for us.”

The 6-foot-2 center logged a season-high 24 minutes, focusing her attention on defending Hutcheson, who was averaging 14.6 points and nine rebounds.

Hutcheson missed her first seven shots but finished with 14 points – 10 of which came in the final eight minutes after UMaine led by 21 – and six rebounds.

“We just focused on being really physical with her and just trying to shut her down, because she’s the spark on their team,” said Hugstad-Vaa, who was spelled by Abby Schrader, Katie Whittier of New Gloucester and Nicole Jay.

“[Hutcheson] really dominates and gets them going… so we wanted to try to limit her points,” Hugstad-Vaa said.

Missy Traversi sparked another balanced offensive effort by the Bears with 16 points, including 8-for-10 free-throw shooting. She handed out six assists while spearheading UMaine’s transition attack.

Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor posted 12 points and seven rebounds, while Monica Peterson contributed 10 points and six rebounds and Corbitt 10 points and five rebounds.

Whittier, cheered by a vocal group of supporters, added four points, six rebounds and scrappy defense. Hugstad-Vaa had five points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

The Bears outscored the Great Danes 21-5 from the foul line.

UMaine also outrebounded Albany (6-7, 1-3 AE), one of the league’s top rebounding teams, by a 42-30 margin.

“We usually get O [offensive]-boards and that was my biggest concern is that we only one O-board in the first half,” said Albany coach Trina Patterson.

“When you miss a lot of shots, you need to make sure that you get a chance to get a second look and we did not do that in the first half,” she added.

Jen Schumacher complemented Hutcheson’s contributions with 11 points and Maree Jones finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and five steals.

The Bears led 9-6 when Traversi went on a tear. The senior guard rattled off 12 straight points during a 12-2 spurt that gave UMaine a 21-8 lead with 9:05 left in the first half.

Traversi drained a 3-pointer, then hit a 10-footer before Sherri Mikus answered for Albany with a runner from the lane. Traversi then sandwiched four foul shots around her 3-pointer in transition to put the Bears in command.

“In the first half we were running, we were pushing the ball and that was because of our defense,” said Traversi, who admitted the Bears were mad about the loss to UNH.

“We came out today, we showed how mad we were, we got after it and [we] played Maine basketball,” she added.

UMaine put the game out of reach with a 12-1 scoring run early in the second half that made it 42-22 with 13:55 left.

The Bears had their share of offensive struggles, committing a season-high 22 turnovers against the Great Danes’ rangy 2-3 zone defense.

UMaine returns home for a Wednesday night league game against Hartford.

BLACK BEARS 57, GREAT DANES 42

Albany (6-7) Maine (7-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Schumacher 4 9 2 2 11 Traversi 3 10 16

Hutcheson 6 20 2 5 14 Hugstd-Vaa 2 5

James 0 1 0 0 0 Corbitt 3 5 10

Learn 1 5 0 0 2 Barker 3 7 12

Jones 4 10 1 3 9 Peterson 5 10

Johnson 0 0 0 0 0 Underwood 0 0

Thrower 0 1 0 0 0 Jay 0 0 0

Mikus 2 3 0 0 4 Whittier 1 4

Sanders 1 3 0 0 2 Pullen 0 1 0

Majors 0 1 0 0 0 Schrader 0 0

Peterson 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 53 5 10 42 Totals 17 45 21 26 57

Albany 14 42

Maine 28 57

3-pt. goals – Albany (1-5): Schumacher 1-3, Jones 0-2; Maine (2-11): Traversi 2-5, Barker 0-2, Underwood 0-4

Attendance: 2,143