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ORONO – With the memory of Wednesday’s late-game collapse agonizingly fresh in her mind, Ashley Underwood knew the University of Maine team needed somebody to take charge down the stretch Saturday against New Hampshire.
The junior guard from Benton refused to allow the Black Bears let another one slip through their fingers.
Underwood scored eight straight points during a key two-minute span and tallied 12 of UMaine’s last 14 points to lift the Bears to a 69-58 America East victory at Alfond Arena.
“I was proud of the kids for their effort, especially coming off a very tough loss the other day,” said UMaine coach Ann McInerney. “To get back and focus and get the job done on a big game day like today was extremely crucial for us.”
Underwood finished with a career-best 24 points as UMaine (8-15 overall, 4-8 AE) exhibited resilience and determination despite significant second half struggles against the Wildcats.
“I think our motto all week was ‘finish the job,’ because that’s all we kept saying in timeouts was ‘finish, finish, finish,'” said Underwood, who provided four assists and a steal with no turnovers.
Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor tossed in 17 points – eight in UMaine’s early second half surge – grabbed nine rebounds and posted four assists. Freshman Brittany Bowen hit three first-half 3-pointers and finished with nine points, while Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa chipped in with eight points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Abby Schrader added eight points.
Corinna native and former Nokomis High star Danielle Clark paced New Hampshire with 16 points. Ebony Woods scored 15 and Ray Williams added 10.
The Bears played a strong first half, shooting 52 percent on their way to a 16-point lead early in the second half. Bowen’s 3-pointers were key.
“She provided a spark off the bench, which was huge, came in and made three big 3s in the first half and that opened a lot of things up in the second half,” Underwood said.
Instead of putting the game away, UMaine went into a funk.
Trailing 53-37 with 13:45 to play, New Hampshire (13-11, 5-8 AE) rallied with 14 unanswered points and held UMaine scoreless for almost eight minutes.
The Wildcats applied full-court pressure and forced seven turnovers during their resurgence. However, UNH was stuck five points back at 53-48 for almost three minutes.
“We had probably three or four possessions where we could have continued to try and knock down that five-point lead and finish the comeback and we couldn’t knock down a shot there and missed some free throws,” said UNH coach Sue Johnson.
Woods’ baseline layup and a Lindsay Adams free throw got UNH within two (53-51) with 6:29 remaining before UMaine finally snapped out of its offensive doldrums.
Barker broke the protracted scoring drought, cutting down the baseline and taking a pass from Abby Schrader for a layup at the 5:55 mark.
With that play having eased the palpable tension that had quieted the crowd of 1,820, Underwood took charge.
On UMaine’s next possession, with the shot clock down to :03, Underwood drained a 3-pointer from the right wing.
The next time down the floor, Underwood again had the ball in her hands at crunch time. She took a quick dribble to the right, tossed in a clutch 18-footer and was fouled with one second left on the shot clock.
Her free throw pushed UMaine’s lead to 61-51 with 3:48 left and her short runner 40 seconds later ensured the Bears would keep the upper hand.
BLACK BEARS 69, WILDCATS 58
New Hampshire (13-11) Maine (8-15)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Clark 5 9 4 4 16 Hgstd-Va 3 8
Edwards 1 7 0 0 3 Barker 6 11 17
Cerniglia 1 7 0 0 3 Schrader 2 8
Woods 6 11 3 5 15 Underwd 7 14 24
Adams 1 5 2 3 4 Elderton 0 1
Hardy 1 4 0 0 3 Younan 0 0 0
Johnson 0 0 0 0 0 Bowen 3 6 9
Flowers 1 3 2 2 4 Kilmurray 0 2
Williams 4 7 2 5 10
Totals 20 53 13 19 58 Totals 21 43 18 21 69
New Hampshire 28 58
Maine 39 69
3-pt. goals – UNH (5-18): Clark 2-4, Edwards 1-1, Cerniglia 1-4, Woods 0-2, Adams 0-4, Hardy 1-2, Flowers 0-1; Maine (9-19): Barker 3-5, Underwood 3-8, Elderton 0-1, Bowen 3-4, Kilmurray 0-1
Attendance: 1,820
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