ORONO – Winning close games down the stretch often boils down to desire and the ability to make key defensive stops.

Vermont demonstrated its late-game determination Tuesday night.

The Catamounts erased an 11-point second-half deficit, limiting the University of Maine to eight points in the last nine minutes, to pull out an 80-74 America East women’s basketball victory at Alfond Arena.

Coach Ann McInerney’s Black Bears (12-11, 6-6 AE) were unable to contain a speedy and balanced Vermont team that wound up shooting 50 percent in the second half.

“To give up 80 points in a very big league game you have at home … that’s probably the most disappointing thing,” McInerney said.

UMaine slipped to fourth place in the league standings while UVM moved into third.

“We didn’t do our job defensively,” McInereney. “We didn’t keep them off the boards. Our offense definitely went stagnant late, [but] we didn’t get defensive stops.”

Vermont (16-8, 6-5 AE) dictated the pace of the game from the outset, using full-court pressure to force numerous turnovers and spark their transition attack.

The Catamounts abandoned that philosophy after intermission, instead opting to let their man-to-man defense set the tone. After the Bears tallied a season-high 45 points in the first 20 minutes, they managed only 29 second-half points.

Their output dwindled as the contest wore on.

“We were up by 11 … but we just didn’t close the deal,” said Ashley Underwood of Benton, who led UMaine with 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

However, exceptional defense by Brittney Cross limited the senior to only five points in the second half.

Despite mixing man-to-man and zone defenses, UMaine was unable to stop Vermont. The visitors got far too many good looks at the basket, most of them coming on aggressive dribble penetration plays.

The Bears finished with 23 turnovers, which led to 26 Vermont points. The Catamounts’ 22 turnovers resulted in 17 points by the hosts.

Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor contributed 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Katie Whittier of new Gloucester added 12 points and three blocked shots for UMaine.

Cross paced Vermont with 21 points, registered seven steals and handed out five assists. Amy Rosenkrantz netted 19 points, May Kotsopoulos posted 16 and Courtnay Pilypaitis added 11.

UMaine appeared to be in control after Kris Younan’s baseline runner gave the Bears a 57-46 lead with 15:58 to play. At that point, UMaine was shooting 67 percent (20-for-30) from the field.

Vermont responded by limiting the Bears to 6-for-18 accuracy the rest of the way.

“At times our offense was in rhythm and then toward the end we just fell apart,” Underwood said. “It’s not even about that. Our defense was horrible.”

The Cats got back in the game with an 11-2 run that featured five points by Kotsopoulos.

Vermont later took the lead with a 7-0 surge during which it stopped the Bears on seven consecutive possessions.

A Pilypaitis foul shot, Sy Janousek’s basket off an inbounds play, Kotsopoulos’ fast-break layup and an eight-footer from the baseline by Janousek gave the Catamounts a 74-70 lead with 1:16 to play.

“When one thing broke down, we didn’t stop it. We let it keep going,” Barker said. “We can’t have those lapses.”

UMaine cut the deficit to two on a pair of Barker free throws, but an uncontested driving layup by Cross proved the final blow with 30 seconds left.

“We got the lead by playing together, by playing aggressive. Then they came after us and we backed down,” McInerney said.

It was an fast-paced yet erratic first half. The Bears emerged with a 45-39 lead, thanks in great part to their 64 percent (16-for-25) shooting.

UMaine and UVM combined for 27 turnovers and also were whistled for a combined 23 fouls in the half.

CATAMOUNTS 80, BLACK BEARS 74

Vermont (16-8) Maine (12-11)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Cihal 0 0 0 0 0 Whittier 6 12

Kotsopouls 7 12 1 1 16 Barker 4 7 14

Cross 6 10 7 8 21 Younan 2 9 5

Rosnkrntz 7 17 3 3 19 Underwd 5 11 20

Pilypaitis 4 6 3 6 11 Greene 3 5 9

Fenton 0 0 0 0 0 HgstdVaa 2 4

Janousek 4 7 0 0 8 Colon 0 0 0

Iwobi 0 1 0 0 0 Tewksbry 0 2

Sheftic 1 4 0 2 2 Kilmurray 0 0

Poles 0 3 3 5 3 Vaitkute 4 8

Totals 29 60 17 25 80 Totals 26 48 16 20 74

Vermont 39 80

Maine 45 74

3-pt. goals – Vermont (5-13): Rosenkrantz 2-3, Cross 2-4, Kotsopoulos 1-3, Pilypaitis 0-1, Janousek 0-2; Maine (6-13): Underwood 3-3, Greene 3-5, Barker 0-2, Younan 0-3

Attendance: 1,368