BOSTON – The outcome of tight games hinges on a team’s ability to execute in the final minutes.

The University of Maine couldn’t make enough key plays to pull out Saturday’s women’s basketball contest against Boston University.

BU’s Aly Hinton scored three points in the last 37.3 seconds and the Black Bears came up empty on their final two possessions as the Terriers escaped with a 63-61 America East victory at Case Gym.

Coach Ann McInerney’s Bears were stymied for the second time in four days, suffering another gut-wrenching defeat.

“They played harder than we did, they played tougher than we did, and they wanted to win more than we did,” said a disappointed McInerney.

UMaine slipped to 12-12, 6-7 in league play, and fell into fifth place in America East. For the moment, the Bears hold the tiebreaker edge against the Terriers (14-12, 6-7 AE), who are tied for fifth.

Ultimately, the Bears’ downfall stemmed from a stagnant rebounding effort as BU grabbed a 48-30 advantage.

“We got killed on the boards. They had 23 offensive boards, which is ridiculous,” said UMaine senior Ashley Underwood of Benton.

“We came out good and then in the second half we just went flat,” she added. “We battled back, but didn’t make stops at the end when we needed to.”

The Bears also were unable to establish their inside game and couldn’t get to the foul line, where BU had a 10-6 edge. UMaine also paid dearly for its 15 turnovers, which BU converted into 24 points.

Having wiped out an 11-point deficit, UMaine led 61-60 with 42 seconds left after Kris Younan scored from the baseline off a loose rebound and Katie Whittier snipped an 18-footer.

Hinton hit a 10-footer from the lane on BU’s next possession to make it 62-61 with 27 seconds to play.

The Bears called a timeout to set up a potential winning shot, but the play never materialized. Instead, Younan was fouled while driving into the paint with 8.3 seconds left.

“We need to set screens and read the defense,” Underwood said. “That last play, they switched it up from man to zone and it was smart on their part. It shouldn’t have even come down to that.”

With a chance to put UMaine ahead, Younan missed the front end of a one-and-one. Hinton rebounded and quickly was fouled.

“[You have to] make your free throws, make one,” McInerney said.

Hinton made the first foul shot but missed the second. Bracey Barker rebounded for UMaine, which had no timeouts left, but slipped to the floor.

Barker recovered and got the ball off to Younan, who raced down the court and threw up a running 3-pointer that missed as time expired.

Underwood paced UMaine with a game-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Whittier finished with 13 points, Bar Harbor’s Barker posted 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, and Abby Greene added 12 points. Younan contributed seven assists and six rebounds.

Cheri Raffo led the Terriers with 15 points, while Katie Meinhardt (four assists) netted 11 and Christine Kinneary (six assists) had 10.

It was another inconsistent performance by UMaine, which led by as many as nine points in the first half and later trailed by 11.

After shooting a dismal 21 percent in the first half, the hosts bounced back to shoot 47 percent and commit only one turnover after intermission.

BU outscored UMaine 13-4 to end the first half, then opened the second half with an 8-3 run. The hosts were effective in transition and got plenty of good looks in their half-court offense.

Trailing 51-40 with 8:44 left, the Bears rallied behind junior point guard Younan. On consecutive possessions, she set up a 16-footer by Whittier, fed Underwood for a 3-pointer, and dished off to Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa for a layup as UMaine got back in the game at 51-47.

The Bears eventually regained the lead at the 3:07 mark on Barker’s 3-pointer, but BU answered with Kasey Devine’s putback and Kinneary’s fast-break layup.

UMaine is idle until Saturday’s noon home finale against Maryland Baltimore County. It will be “Senior Day.”

TERRIERS 63, BLACK BEARS 61

Maine (12-12) BU (14-12)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Whittier 6 10 1 2 13 Kovach 3 14 9

Barker 5 11 0 0 12 Hinton 3 5 7

Younan 2 5 0 1 4 Dini 0 3 0

Undrwood 6 12 0 0 17 Meinhrdt 5 13 0 0 11

Greene 3 6 4 4 12 Raffo 4 15 15

Hgstd-Vaa 1 4 0 0 2 Devine 4 9 8

Colon 0 1 0 0 0 Kinneary 4 10

Tewksbry 0 0 0 0 0 UmzErnni 1 3

Bowen 0 1 0 0 0 Brks-Wily 0 0

Vaitkute 0 0 1 2 1

Totals 23 50 6 9 61 Total 24 69 10 15 63

Maine 21 61

Boston University 21 63

3-pt. goals – Maine (9-19): Barker 2-3, Younan 0-2, Underwood 5-8, Greene 2-5, Hugstad-Vaa 0-1; Boston University (5-21): Kovach 1-4, Hiton 0-2, Dini 0-2, Meinhardt 1-4, Raffo 3-9

Attendance: 368