ORONO – During a timeout with 7.2 seconds left, UMaine coach Ann McInerney called a play to have Ashley Underwood get the ball to Katie Whittier.

The plan didn’t work, but Amanda Tewksbury made sure the intended outcome was fulfilled.

The freshman forward nailed an 18-foot jumper – her only basket of the game – as time expired Saturday night, lifting the University of Maine women’s basketball team to a thrilling 80-78 victory over Clemson in the championship game of the Dead River Co. Classic.

A crowd of 1,717 watched at Alfond Arena as the Black Bears (4-1) outfoxed a quick, strong Tigers team to win the tournament for only the third time in its 14-year history.

“We originally had a plan to hit Katie off the back screen for a layup, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t see [her],” Underwood said.

“Luckily, ‘Tewks’ was right there [on the right wing] and she knocked it down, so that was perfect,” she added.

UMaine senior Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor was named the tourney MVP after scoring a game-high 24 points, 18 in the first half. She added seven rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.

Barker was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Underwood of Benton, D’Lesha Lloyd and Tasha Taylor of Clemson, Kia Wright of St. John’s, and Ashley King-Bischof of Brown.

St. John’s defeated Brown 73-49 in Saturday’s consolation game.

Tewksbury’s game-winning shot capped an evening during which she had gone 0-for-7 from the floor.

“I didn’t really think about it,” said lefthander Tewksbury. “[Underwood] gave me the ball and I was like OK, I need to just relax and shoot it. It’s so unreal. I’m pretty excited about it.”

Underwood complemented Barker with 22 points, including four 3-pointers. Senior center Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa was strong inside with 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Whittier of New Gloucester added nine second-half points.

“The fact that we were able to come out of here 2-0 and the champions of the tournament … we’ll use this one to continue to build confidence and who knows where this team can go,” McInerney said.

Lloyd led Clemson (2-4) with 16 points, Christy Brown netted 14 points with six assists, and Lele Hardy added eight points and 10 rebounds.

UMaine trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and led by nearly the same margin in the second half. The hosts prevailed by slowing down Clemson with a 2-3 zone, 1-2-2 full-court pressure, and a solid offensive effort.

Ultimately, the difference was at the foul line, where UMaine went 23-for-26. The Tigers were 2-for-2.

“The officiating was absolutely horrendous and Maine doesn’t need that, because that tells me I don’t ever want to come back up here again if that’s the way things are going to be called,” Clemson coach Cristy McKinney said.

Underwood made eight of 10 from the line, including a clutch 6-for-6 effort during the last 61/2 minutes.

McInerney said the effectiveness of UMaine’s 2-3 zone was what led to the large disparity in fouls (21-9) called by the America East officiating crew.

Clemson took advantage of its superior speed and quickness, racing to a 24-14 lead in the first 10 minutes. With the Bears playing man-to-man defense, the Tigers beat them off the dribble to score layups.

“We did not feel like we could contain them one-on-one, so we went into the zone,” McInerney said. “I think our zone kept them on the perimeter a little bit more than they had wanted to.”

The switch to the 2-3 zone severely curtailed the Tigers’ dribble-penetration and helped UMaine rebound more effectively.

“They were getting the ball in, we were turning around, and they’d be past us,” Underwood said. “We just had to relax.”

The Bears gradually regained their confidence and Barker scored nine straight UMaine points in a 9-2 run that got the hosts within 26-23. UMaine went into the locker room with a 41-40 edge, bringing a fired-up partisan crowd to its feet.

Maine added a 6-0 run in the second half as Hugstad-Vaa scored from underneath, Underwood scored from the paint, and Whittier hit a 10-footer to put the Bears up 64-56 with 9:21 left.

Maine eventually pushed the lead to nine points, but Clemson later retook the lead with a 14-4 run capped by Carrie Whitehurst’s bank-in 3-pointer, making it 75-74 with 2:27 to play. Two Underwood foul shots gave the Bears the lead with 2:11 to go.

Two more Underwood free throws made it 78-75 with 25.6 seconds to play, but Brown hit a long 3-pointer 13 seconds later to tie it back up.

BLACK BEARS 80, TIGERS 78

Clemson (2-4) Maine (4-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Lloyd 8 13 0 0 16 Whittier 3 9

Bradshaw 4 6 1 1 9 Barker 9 15 24

Brown 6 10 0 0 14 Younan 1 1 5

Hardy 3 11 0 0 8 Underwd 5 16 10 22

Taylor 4 7 1 1 9 Tewksbry 1 4

Auffray 0 0 0 0 0 Hgstd-Va 3 11

Yenser 0 0 0 0 0 Colon 1 3 2

Davis 4 7 0 0 8 Greene 1 2 3

Campbell 2 7 0 0 5 Bowen 0 0 0

Whitehurst 3 7 0 0 9

Totals 34 68 2 2 78 Totals 24 56 23 26 80

Clemson 40 78

Maine 41 80

3-pt. goals – Clemson (8-18): Lloyd 0-1, Brown 2-3, Hardy 2-5, Campbell 1-2, Whitehurst 3-7; Maine (9-17): Whittier 1-1, Barker 2-3, Younan 1-1, Underwood 4-9, Tewksbury 0-1, Colon 0-1, Greene 1-1

Attendance: 1,717