Brown downs Maine Offensive woes plague Bears

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ORONO – After failing to get any offensive rhythm in the first half of Friday evening’s game against Brown University, the University of Maine women found some in the second half.

In the process, they also got Brown in plenty of foul trouble to start the second half, but unfortunately for the Black Bears, they couldn’t capitalize.

Maine shot 34.1 percent from the field and just 58.8 percent from the foul line as Brown’s Bears posted their first win of the season, 65-52, in Friday’s 16th annual Dead River Company Classic first round game at Alfond Arena.

The 1-3 Maine women will take on New Jersey Institute of Technology in today’s 1 p.m. consolation game before Brown meets West Virginia University, a 76-42 victor over NJIT Friday, in the 4 p.m. title game.

Brown, now 1-4, was called for five fouls in the first three minutes of the second half and eight over the first five, putting Maine in the double bonus with 10:45 left in the game.

Still, the Brown Bears had a nine-point halftime lead to work with – a lead Maine was able to shrink to one point (36-35) with 13:46 left.

Maine hit eight of 13 free throws in that span, but was never able to tie it up or take a lead in the second half, thanks to some key contributions off the Brown bench.

“We didn’t let it get us down, stayed aggressive, and fought through it,” said Courtney Lee, who scored 12 points for Brown. “A lot of people stepped in for us off the bench and allowed us to stay aggressive, regardless of the foul count.”

Lee managed to stay out of foul trouble while dishing out six assists and grabbing seven rebounds.

Hannah Passafuime had five points and six rebounds off the Brown bench, which starting forward Natalie Bonds (eight points, six boards) was forced to go to after drawing her fourth foul with 15:19 left.

Brown’s guards led the way as Sadiea Williams had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Karly Grace added 13 points and four assists.

“I think [Maine] came out more aggressive in the middle of the second half with their traps, so we talked about attacking the opposite side of the court, making the pass out of the traps, and reversing it for the blocks,” said Brown coach Jean Marie Burr.

Brown was not only able to survive the toll the fouls were taking, but even turn the tables on Maine later in the half.

“With the ball going inside for us a little more down the stretch, we were able to draw more fouls that way,” said Burr. “Our transition defense today was the best I’ve seen from the team.”

Meanwhile, Maine was hitting just two of its next seven free throws as Brown outscored the Black Bears 13-6 to take a 49-41 lead with 6:31 to go. Maine would never get closer than six the rest of the way.

“It’s kind of been somewhat of a trend for us getting behind early,” said Maine coach Cindy Blodgett. “Fighting back from double digits in the first half takes a toll mentally.”

Freshman center Samantha Baranowski led Maine with 15 points while freshman forward Samantha Wheeler added 12 points. Each had five boards.

“We didn’t shoot especially well at the line, but I think it’s good that Sam B. got to the line 10 times and Sam Wheeler got to the line 15 times,” said Blodgett. “I’m thrilled about that because it shows they’re aggressive.”

Baranowski and Wheeler said they need to keep working on rebounding, as it improves their offense and defense.

“Overall, we struggled with offensive rebounds, but I think we did a better job in the second half and we were attacking better on offense and making crisper cuts,” Wheeler said.

Colleen Kilmurray had eight points off the bench while Amanda Tewksbury had seven points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Brown shot 47.2 percent from the field for the game and outrebounded Maine 37-33 overall. Another big edge for Brown was in points off turnovers, where the Bears had 25 to Maine’s 15.

In the first game, West Virginia’s Takisha Granberry hit eight of nine 3-point shots and 10 of 15 shots from the field overall en route to a game-high 30 points and a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Vanessa House had 14 points and Liz Repella added 10 as the Mountaineers outrebounded NJIT 45-29 overall.

Jessica Gerald led the Highlanders with 21 points.

NJIT (0-4) 42

Seric 3-0-6, K. Oyelola 0-4-4, Al-Shingieti, McCaffrey, Gerald 7-5-21, T. Oyelola 1-2-4, Griffin 1-0-2, Johnson, Piekielski 1-0-2, Smith, Dickinson 1-0-3

West Virginia (4-1) 76

Burton 3-0-6, Miles 2-0-4, Repella 4-2-10, Granberry 10-2-30, Powell 2-0-4, Dixon 0-3-3, House 5-0-14, Sanabria 1-0-3, Keehan, Fullard 1-0-2

3-pt. goals: Gerald 2; Granberry 8, House 4, Sanabria

Halftime: WVU 33-14

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BROWN BEARS 65, BLACK BEARS 52

Brown (1-4) Maine (1-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Jacobson 0 0 0 0 0 Wheeler 2 6 15 12

Bonds 3 8 2 6 8 Barnwski 4 10 5

Williams 7 15 1 2 16 Baker 1 8 3

Lee 4 5 4 6 12 Ross 1 7 2 5

Grace 5 12 0 0 13 Tewksbry 3 7

Johnson 2 3 1 2 5 Williams 0 0

Passfuime 1 4 3 4 5 Boser 1 2 2

Blood 1 2 0 0 2 Rush 0 0 0

Fitzpatrick 0 0 0 0 0 Kilmurray 3 8

Delk 1 2 0 0 2 Bratishko 0 0 0

Alexander 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 25 53 11 20 65 Totals 15 44 20 34 52

Brown 30 65

Maine 21 52

3-pt. goals – Brown (4-15): Grace 3-9, Williams 1-4, Passafuime 0-1, Delk 0-1; Maine (2-12): Kilmurray 1-2, Ross 1-3, Baker 0-5, Wheeler 0-1, Tewksbury 0-1

Attendance: 1,513