ORONO – Coach Cindy Blodgett has spent a lot of time lately stressing aggressiveness to her University of Maine women’s basketball team.

The Black Bears experienced firsthand Wednesday night the benefits that can be derived from being willing to go hard at opponents.

UMaine drew 31 fouls and cashed in by shooting 83 percent (33-for-40) from the foul line while grinding out an 82-77 victory over Boston University in the program’s 200th game at Alfond Arena.

“It’s a good win against a quality team,” Blodgett said. “Hopefully our kids have confidence going into Vermont.”

Spearheaded by freshman forward Tanna Ross of Newburgh, who connected for a career-best 22 points, the Bears (5-13 overall, 2-3 AE) placed five players in double figures on their way to outscoring the league’s most prolific offensive team.

“We’ve been working really hard. I think this is a great measuring stick as to where we’ve come,” said senior guard Kris Younan. “This is something where we need to take from it and keep going.”

Ross, who for the first time this season played extensively inside, proved a tough matchup for the Terriers (9-8, 2-2 AE). She drew fouls, going 10-for-11 from the foul line, and also grabbed eight rebounds.

Younan connected for a career-high 18 points to go with six assists and five rebounds, while sophomore Brittany Boser posted 12 points and eight rebounds and freshman Emily Rousseau of Biddeford contributed 12 points and six boards.

Sophomore Amanda Tewksbury tallied eight of her 10 points from the foul line and grabbed six rebounds.

“We knew that we had to be aggressive as well, take it to the hole and they would foul us,” Younan said. “It was working. We went to the line 40 times (attempts).”

Despite giving away several inches in the post, UMaine outrebounded BU 47-36 and committed 17 turnovers, six below its season average.

Jesyka Burks-Wiley paced the Terriers with 19 points, while Aly Hinton and Kristi Dini hit four 3-pointers each on the way to 15 points and 12 points, respectively, for the Terriers.

UMaine’s 1-2-2 matchup zone effectively kept BU from establishing a consistent post game. As a result, BU settled for 31 3-point attempts and wound up going only 8-for-16 from the foul line.

“We knew they had really good 3-point shooters,” Blodgett said. “It’s a gamble you take. I’d rather a team beat us by shooting 20-footers than by pounding it inside. Luckily we had enough scoring to offset it tonight.”

As the teams battled through a ballgame that featured 20 lead changes and 12 ties, the Bears finally made their move in the final 3:04.

With the score knotted at 69, Boser hit a 17-foot jumper off a penetrate-and-pitch pass from Younan, who made two foul shots 1:06 later to give UMaine a 73-69 edge. Kasey Devine answered for BU by scoring off her own miss at the 1:34.

On the ensuing possession, Ross made her biggest play of the night, snaring a Boser miss and scooping a shot under the long arms of the 6-foot-3 Devine on her way to a three-point play that gave the Bears a 76-71 lead with 1:05 remaining.

“Yeah, it’s something new. It’s working all right,” Ross said of playing inside. “It’s very different from what I’ve been doing.”

The Terriers closed within three on Devine’s eight-footer from the paint, but Rousseau and Ross sandwiched a free throw each around a Tewksbury steal and Rousseau sank two more to make it 80-73, UMaine’s largest lead of the game, with 17.5 seconds to play.

BU scored twice in a span of 6.1 seconds late, but two Younan free throws iced it.

“I give Cindy and her young team a lot of credit,” said BU coach Kelly Greenberg. “They got to the line quite a bit and that was the difference in the game.”

The Bears put together outstanding offensive chemistry in the first half, taking a 41-38 lead into the locker room at the break.

It was the most points scored in the first half by the Bears this season.

BLACK BEARS 82, TERRIERS 77

Boston Univ. (9-8) Maine (5-13)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Umz-Eroni 1 4 1 2 3 Ross 6 13 10 11 22

Brks-Wiley 7 14 4 7 19 Tewksbry 1 10

Devine 3 10 0 1 6 Kilmurray 1 2

Kinneary 1 3 2 2 4 Younan 5 11 18

Raffo 3 12 0 0 8 Rousseau 2 12

Dini 4 12 0 0 12 Baker 2 2 0 4

Jean 1 3 0 0 2 Boser 6 11 0 12

Briggs 0 0 0 0 0 Vaitkute 0 2

Hinton 5 10 1 2 15

Folk 4 5 0 2 8

Totals 29 73 8 16 77 Totals 23 53 33 40 82

Boston University 38 77

Maine 41 82

3-pt. goals – BU (11-31): Hinton 4-6, Dini 4-11, Raffo 2-7, Burks-Wiley 1-3, Kinneary 0-2, Jean 0-2; Maine (3-10): Rousseau 2-4, Younan 1-3, Ross 0-3

Attendance: 1,820 (tickets issued)