ORONO – Throughout her University of Maine career, Julie Veilleux has been an unselfish player who prefers to blend into the mix.

Wednesday night, the senior swing player from Augusta showed what she’s capable of doing if the need arises.

Veilleux went 8-for-12 from the floor on her way to a career-high 26 points and contributed eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals while leading the Black Bears to a 73-65 America East women’s basketball victory over defending league champion Boston University at Alfond Arena.

“That’s sick,” Melissa Heon told Veilleux after seeing the game statistics.

“I knew it was a big game and we needed to focus,” Veilleux said. “Every team’s coming after us. We just went out there and tried to work hard.”

Veilleux’s performance, including 16 first-half points, helped coach Sharon Versyp’s 10-5 Bears move to 5-0 in AE with their fifth consecutive win and their 21st straight regular-season league victory.

“She’s always been a great shooter, but she’s just such an unselfish player,” Versyp said.

“She was just in the zone and when you’re in a zone, you want to make sure that person really builds her confidence.”

UMaine’s tenacious defense fed its offense as the Bears hounded the Terriers into 22 turnovers, converting those miscues into 28 points. Six players registered at least two steals in a scrappy defensive effort that fueled the Bears’ tantalizing transition attack.

“We played very well ourselves and I thought the key was that we pressured them into 22 turnovers … and we scored off those turnovers,” Versyp said.

Heather Ernest of Temple scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half to help the Bears stave off repeated threats by the Terriers (7-7, 2-3 AE). She added three steals.

Heon scored 13 points, while Monica Peterson provided eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocked shots. Abby Schrader chipped in with four points and seven rebounds.

“We just clicked today and it was great,” Heon said.

Katie Terhune paced BU with 22 points on 6-for-9 3-point shooting, while Stanford transfer Becky Bonner tossed in 14. The rest of the team went 9-for-38 (.237), but Adrienne Norris had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Terriers were 9-for-19 from long range and outrebounded UMaine 37-35, but succumbed to their turnover woes.

“I thought their pressure kind of put us back on our heels,” said BU coach Margaret McKeon.”

UMaine led throughout the second half, but was unable to stretch it out until Peterson’s 16-foot jumper and two driving layups by Missy Traversi made it 55-43 with 8:54 remaining.

“We knew we had to pressure, pressure, pressure,” Heon said of UMaine, which implemented a run-and-jump press and fell back into either man-to-man or a 1-2-2 zone. The man-to-man was more effective in limiting BU’s 3-point shooting.

The Terriers cut it back to 57-49 as Bonner and Terhune sandwiched 3-pointers around an 18-footer by Veilleux.

Ernest came alive at the offensive end, scoring seven straight UMaine points during a key two-minute span as the Bears sustained the lead. UMaine made 9 of 12 free throws to put the game away.

The Bears’ ability to attack in transition enabled them to build a 33-26 halftime lead and get into a good flow. BU led 15-9 early, but committed 15 turnovers in the half.

UMaine put together an 11-3 scoring run during the last 31/2 minutes. Heon opened the surge with two foul shots then Veilleux followed with a fast-break layup off Peterson feed.

BU’s Norris slowed the rally with two free throws, but Heon made a layup off a back-door cut, then Traversi drove in for a fast-break layup that gave the Bears a 30-25 edge with 2:09 left.

“Their defense is their bread and butter and they turned us over 15 times,” McKeon said. “If you turn the ball over 15 times, that’s not going to be good.”

BLACK BEARS 73, TERRIERS 65

Boston Univ. (7-7) Maine (10-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Moseley 2 5 2 2 6 Heon 3 7 13

Onson 1 2 0 0 2 Ernest 5 16 16

Terhune 7 14 2 5 22 Corbitt 0 2 0

Bonner 5 10 2 3 14 Veilleux 8 12 7 7 26

Norris 2 6 6 8 10 Schrader 2 4

Kovach 2 5 0 0 5 Traversi 3 6

Bibbs 0 4 1 2 1 Barker 0 1 0

Vanderwal 2 6 1 2 5 Peterson 3 8

Parr 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 21 52 14 22 65 Totals 24 54 20 25 73

Boston Univ. 26 65

Maine 33 73

3-pt. goals ? BU (9-19): Onson 0-1, Terhune 6-9, Bonner 2-5, Kovach 1-1, Bibbs 0-1, Vanderwal 0-2; Maine (5-13): Heon 2-5, Ernest 0-2, Veilleux 3-3, Traversi 0-2, Barker 0-1

Attendance: 2,279