BOSTON – Boston University demonstrated again Tuesday night why it is the most prolific scoring team in America East.

The Terriers connected on seven of their first 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point line to help build a commanding 23-point, first-half lead on their way to an easy 77-56 America East women’s basketball victory over the University of Maine at Case Gym.

Boston University (14-10, 7-4 AE) found plenty of holes in the Black Bears’ defense. Coach Cindy Blodgett’s UMaine team (7-18, 4-8 AE) was often unable to account for Terrier shooters.

“They scored 40 points the first half. That really speaks to what little defense we were playing,” Blodgett said. “We’re not going to outscore a lot of teams, and that’s OK, but the defense has to be there. That’s heart, hustle. We’ve talked about that all season long.”

UMaine also wilted in the face of the Terriers’ tenacious defense, turning the ball over 14 times in the first half alone to help fuel BU’s dangerous transition attack. With freshman Emily Rousseau of Biddeford still sidelined by a right knee injury, UMaine’s remaining trio of guards committed 14 turnovers, nine in the first 20 minutes.

In contrast BU – which scored 26 points as a result of the Bears’ miscues – also demonstrated balance and efficiency. The catalyst was point guard Christine Kinneary, who tallied 15 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

The Terriers registered assists on 22 of their 29 field goals.

“That speaks to how unselfish they were,” Blodgett said, “and that all starts with (Kinneary), their point guard. She has a high basketball IQ and she doesn’t make mistakes. Oftentimes, your team is only as good as your point guard in terms of, they’re a reflection of their point guard.”

Colleen Kilmurray led the UMaine offense with 11 points, seven from the foul line, while Amanda Tewksbury turned in another solid performance with 10 points and five rebounds. Kristin Baker of Bingham contributed nine points and Brittany Boser added six points and eight rebounds.

The Bears, who outrebounded the Terriers 26-17, wound up shooting 53 percent from the field.

“The problem is this, we only got 40 field-goal attempts,” Blodgett said, “but when you cough the ball up 27 times … offensively, those stats are not horrible; it’s just defensively.”

Cheri Raffo poured in a game-high 18 points to pace BU, which shot 57 percent from the floor in the contest. Kasey Devine posted 12 points. The Terriers went 10-for-16 (63 percent) from 3-point range.

It took BU a while to get its offense in gear, but its relentless full-court pressure was effective from the outset. The hosts forced UMaine to work hard to get the ball up the floor, taking time off the shot clock and hampering the Bears’ offensive continuity once in the frontcourt.

The Terriers started clicking on 3-pointers by Kristi Dini and Corinne Jean midway through the half. They finally started pulling away in the last five minutes of the period.

Raffo opened a key 10-0 flurry with a fast-break layup off a turnover, then Jean drained a 3-pointer off a kickout pass from Devine in the post. Kinneary made a layup off a Jean steal, then Raffo connected again from long range to make it 35-15 with 2:47 to play in the half.

“They just got comfortable real early. The had seven 3’s in the first half,” Blodgett said. “Any time you let a good 3-point shooting team like BU, get off that early, they get confident and it sort of just feeds itself.”

UMaine scrapped its 1-2-2 matchup zone in the second half in favor of man-to-man. The switch helped the Bears cut down on open BU 3-point attempts and also seemed to lead to better offense – for a while.

The visitors rattled off an 8-2 scoring run, which included a Tanna Ross 3-pointer, a three-point play by Tewksbury and a hustle rebound by Baker that cut the deficit to 46-33 with 13:47 left.

However, UMaine couldn’t sustain the momentum and BU got back in synch to stretch the lead to as much as 27 points.

The Bears return to action Saturday at Binghamton (2 p.m.).

pwarner@bangordailynews.net

990-8240

TERRIERS 77, BLACK BEARS 56

Maine (7-18) Boston U. (14-10)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Boser 3 7 0 0 6 Brks-Wily 2 5

Kilmurray 2 6 7 8 11 Devine 6 9 12

Mosher 2 2 1 2 5 Kinneary 5 15

Younan 1 4 2 3 4 Raffo 6 10 18

Tewksbury 4 5 2 3 10 Umz-Ernoi 2 6

Baker 4 6 0 0 9 Dini 3 5 9

Ross 1 1 0 0 3 Cashman 0 0 0 0

Johnson 1 3 0 0 2 Jean 3 5 8

Bowen 1 1 0 0 2 Briggs 0 0 0

Vaitkute 2 3 0 0 4 Hinton 2 4 4

Bartishko 0 2 0 2 0 Folk 0 1 0

Totals 21 40 12 18 56 Totals 29 51 10 77

Maine 21 56

Boston University 40 77

3-pt. goals – Maine (2-5): Baker 1-2, Ross 1-1, Younan 0-1, Johnson 0-1; Boston University (10-16): Raffo 4-5, Dini 3-5, Jean 2-4, Kinneary 1-1, Hinton 0-1

Attendance: 516