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LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Ashley Underwood connected for a school-record six 3-pointers on her way to a game-high and career-best 22 points Friday night, sparking the University of Maine women’s basketball team to a convincing 70-35 victory over Rider at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Black Bears led from start to finish while providing Ann McInerney with a win in her first game as UMaine’s head coach.
“This is a great feeling,” McInerney said. “I hope they’re all like this.”
The Bears also took advantage of their superior frontcourt height and talent against a small, scrappy Rider ballclub.
Katie Whittier of New Gloucester scored a career-high 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting and also led the team with 13 rebounds while registering her first collegiate double-double.
“No one deserves it more than she does,” McInerney said. “She’s been extremely coachable and she’s getting better day after day. She did a great job on the defensive boards.”
Underwood tied the UMaine single-game mark for 3-pointers for the second time in her career. The junior guard from Benton had two long-range shots in the Bears’ game-opening 9-0 spurt, then buried three in a span of a minute and 38 seconds early in the second half as UMaine turned a 34-15 edge into a 43-18 bulge.
“She’s such a deadly shooter,” McInerney said. “In the second half when we had that big lead, she would put up a shot and I was saying ‘no,’ then the ball would go in and it was like, ‘yes!'”
All 11 players scored for UMaine. New Jersey native Abby Schrader contributed seven points and six rebounds, and Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor chipped in with four points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
“It’s great when you have the opportunity to play the whole team. We’ve been preaching from the beginning it’s team first,” McInerney said. “They all came in and contributed.”
Monica Welborn and Janele Henderson tossed in 10 points each to pace Rider.
The Bears got off to a strong start, scoring the first nine points of the game on their way to a 34-13 halftime lead. Underwood hit two 3-pointers to cap the initial surge during the first 3:07.
UMaine put together another decisive surge later in the half. Leading 19-9, the Bears scored 12 unanswered points.
Ameshia Bryant got the run going with a steal and layup, then Linsdsey Hugstad-Vaa ended a three-minute scoring drought for both teams by making a layup.
Barker fed Hugstad-Vaa for another close-range basket, then Whittier sandwiched two layups around two Barker free throws to give UMaine a commanding 31-9 advantage with 1:48 remaining in the half.
The Broncs shot an abysmal 13 percent (3-for-23) from the field in the first half and committed 12 turnovers.
“We didn’t have a scouting report on them, but we went in knowing that our defense was going to have to be our cornerstone for getting the job done,” McInerney said.
UMaine had nine turnovers in the half, but shot 42 percent from the floor and grabbed 25-14 rebounding edge.
BLACK BEARS 70, BRONCS 35
Maine (1-0) Rider (0-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Underwood 6 12 4 4 22 Welborn 5 13 10
Whittier 7 9 1 2 15 Henderson 3 14 3 3 10
Schrader 3 10 1 1 7 Parker 2 7 8
Barker 1 6 2 2 4 Catalanotto 0 0
Elderton 1 3 0 0 2 Costantino 2 7
Hugstad-Vaa 3 7 0 1 6 Fabbi 0 2 0
Boser 0 2 4 4 4 Trimming 0 0
Bryant 1 4 0 0 2 Gillooly 0 0
Bowen 0 2 1 4 1 Preston 0 6 0
Younan 1 2 0 0 3
Kilmurray 2 3 0 1 4
Totals 25 60 13 19 70 Totals 12 58 35
Maine 34 70
Rider 13 35
3-pt. goals – Maine (7-14): Underwood 6-11, Younan 1-1, Barker 0-2; Rider (2-12): Fabbi 0-2, Henderson 1-3, Parker 0-2, Gillooly 0-4, Costantino 1-1
Attendance: 518
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