In the midst of Wednesday night’s nippy weather and snowstorm, it’s not much of a surprise that the University of Maine women’s basketball team needed a jump start.

The Lady Black Bear backcourt trio of Julie Bradstreet, Carrie Goodhue, and Chris Strong supplied that extra spark in the second half leading Maine to a 77-49 victory over the Boston University Terriers at the Bangor Auditorium.

Holding on to surprisingly slim 44-37 lead with 18 minutes left in the game (and Rachel Bouchard on the bench), the Maine backcourt spearheaded a 28-6 run to blow the game open and move the Black Bears’ record to 8-5 on the season (2-0 in North Atlantic Conference play). The young-and-learning Boston University team fell to 3-8 (0-1).

“The guards did a tremendous job tonight,” said Maine’s senior center Rachel Bouchard. “They looked for their shots tonight and that’s going to be a big key for us. When they started hitting them, you could see the confidence level go up.”

Bradstreet (16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists), Goodhue (15 points, 4 assists, 3 steals), and Strong (11 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists) also turned up the defensive pressure against BU, which made 26 turnovers.

“I thought those guards were the key to that run,” UM Coach Trish Roberts said. “We told them at halftime to put a lot of pressure on BU’s ballhandlers and create some turnovers. I thought Chrissy Strong did an excellent job with that.”

Boston University, riding a three-game losing streak into the contest, played well in the first half (15-for-31, 48 percent shooting) while trailing by just 11.

Four points from Jill Sosnak (a turnaround in the paint), Renee Kern (a free throw) and Andrea Higgins (another free throw) to open the half cut Maine’s lead to 44-37 with 18 minutes left.

After Roberts sat Bouchard down (“She seemed to be forcing some things,” the coach explained), the guards heated up.

After the teams swapped buckets, Goodhue hit a driving layup to put the lead at 48-39. Bradstreet, who started the game for the benched Heather Briggs (disciplinary reasons), then sandwiched back-to-back three-pointers around an offensive layup by BU’s Richelle VanZandt, making it 54-41.

VanZandt’s hoop, however, would be BU’s only field goal for the next 13:02. (The Terriers were 4-for-21, 19 percent in the seconf half).

An 18-2 run, in the middle of Maine’s 28-6 spurt, ended all doubt of a Terrier upset.

Bouchard, who finished with a game-high 21 points (four in the second half) returned and hit two inside buckets. Then, Strong, a freshman who seems to be getting better and better with every game, hit for five straight points to push the Maine advantage to 65-41 with 9:49 left and giving the 981 weather-braving fans an opporunity to get an early start home.

Senior Marion Dukeman led BU with 16 points while point guard Andrea Higgins had 7 points, 4 assists, and 4 steals.

The game started with Maine jumping out to a quick 8-3 lead. BU’s Dukeman swished two three-pointers and a driving layup to help the Terriers battle back and take a 13-12 lead with 12:47 left.

Five points by Bouchard, a 12-footer from Strong, a 15-footer from Bradstreet, and a 19-footer from Jess Carpenter gave Maine some first-half breathing room 23-13 with 10:03 on the clock.

Lady Bears 77, Terriers 49

Maine women Boston University

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Strong 9 5 1 1 11 VanZandt 5 1 2 1 3

Frenette 11 2 2 1 5 Hughes 1 0 0 0 0

Goodhue 12 7 1 1 15 Kern 6 1 2 1 4

Bradstreet 17 7 0 0 16 Higgins 6 2 4 3 7

Bouchard 14 7 7 7 21 Dukeman 14 6 2 2 16

Towle 0 0 2 1 1 Olson 4 3 0 0 6

Carpenter 9 4 0 0 8 Sosnak 5 2 2 1 5

Alley 1 0 0 0 0 Killion 2 1 0 0 2

Buetow 5 0 0 0 0 Manchak 7 2 0 0 4

Turon 2 1 0 0 2

Totals 78 32 13 11 77 Totals 52 19 12 8 49

Maine 44 77

Boston University 33 49

3-pt. goals: Maine (2-9): Bradstreet 2-7, Carpenter 0-1, Goodhue 0-1; Boston University (3-6): Dukeman 2-3, Kern 1-3.