The University of Maine women’s basketball team are two games above .500 for the first time since Dec. 11 following a pair of wins over America East opponents this past week.
The Black Bears took out the University of Vermont thanks to some hot shooting Wednesday night before handling Binghamton University Sunday afternoon. UMaine — 13-11 overall, 7-4 in conference play — now sit in fourth place in America East, just 1.5 games behind second-place University of New Hampshire and one game back of third-place Stony Brook University.
The Black Bears will face a road test against fifth-place Hartford University Feb. 12 before returning home to take on conference-leading University at Albany at the Cross Insurance Center Feb. 16.
Black Bears break another record, top Vermont 69-52
Sophomore forward Liz Wood and senior guard Ashleigh Roberts poured in 34 combined points to lead the UMaine to a 69-52 road win over the University of Vermont Wednesday evening.
The Catamounts fall to 6-17 and 3-7 in the America East with their third straight loss. Vermont is now 3-12 over their last 15 contests.
The Black Bears’ five 3-pointers in the contest set a new team record for most 3s in a season with 177 on the year, surpassing the previous mark of 172.
UMaine jumped out to an early 20-9 lead thanks to 7 points from Wood and 4 from Roberts. Vermont sophomore guard Kylie Atwood sparked the Catamounts’ offense with a 3-pointer that ignited a 13-2 run to tie the game at 22 with just over five minutes to play in the half.
The Black Bears responded to the run with a layup from sophomore center Anna Heise and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Sigi Kozar. Roberts went on to score the last five points of the half to put the Black Bears up 34-26.
The Catamounts struggled during the first half, shooting just 34.6 percent from the field. They were kept alive by their 5-9 3-point shooting effort and their 19-11 rebounding edge. Vermont came into the game with the second highest 3-point field goal percentage in the league, trailing only the Black Bears in that category.
Roberts led the Black Bears through the first half with 11 points while Wood chipped in 9 of her own. As a team they shot 58.3 percent from the field.
Vermont’s offense did not get any better in the second half, allowing Wood and redshirt senior guard Cherrish Wallace to take the first four points on a layup and a pair of free throws.
The Catamounts cut the lead to eight on a pair of free throws from freshman guard Kristina White, but a layup from Wood and a steal from Roberts that led to an easy layup extended the Black Bear lead back to 12 and forced a UVM timeout.
UMaine sophomore guard Chantel Charles made a layup out of the timeout, followed by a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Sophie Weckstrom that put the Black Bears up 48-32.
Vermont senior guard Sam Simononis stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer but Weckstrom cancelled that out promptly with a 3 of her own at the other end.
The Black Bears led by as much as 24 in the half, but the Catamounts never gave in. Vermont scored 9 points in the final three minutes of the game, but it was not enough to come back.
The Catamounts were led by 12 points from Simononis and 10 from Atwood. Junior forward Niki Taylor barely missed a double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds and 9 points. White added 11 points and a pair of rebounds off the bench.
The victory broke the Black Bears’ eight-game losing streak in the Patrick Gymnasium dating back to the 2004-2005 season.
Weckstrom leads UMaine past Binghamton 65-53
ORONO — Wearing pink uniforms in support of breast cancer research, the Black Bears bested Binghamton 65-53 at the Cross Insurance Center Sunday afternoon.
The Bearcats have struggled this year and extended their losing streak to nine as their record falls to 4-20 overall and 1-10 in America East play.
The Black Bears have now won nine more games than last year, more than any other team in the nation.
Weckstrom shot 6-8 from the field and 4-6 from beyond the 3-point arc for a game-high 16 points. Wood chipped in 13 points with a team-high six boards and three assists.
The Black Bears jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the first five minutes thanks to a Weckstrom 3-pointer and a layup from Roberts off of a pass threaded through the Bearcats defense.
A short jumper from Binghamton junior forward Sherae Swinson cut the lead down to one, but Wood responded with a corner 3 to jump-start a 19-2 Black Bear run. Swinson would go on to score a team-high 13 points and grab three boards.
Roberts scored five straight as part of the run, capping off her scoring for the half by missing a 3-pointer but hustling to get her own rebound and laying it in.
Swinson hit a pair of free throws to bring the score to 26-10, but back-to-back 3s from Charles extended the Black Bears lead.
Binghamton sophomore guard Kandace Newry had 4 points as the half wore down but the Black Bears still led 33-18 at the break.
“In the first half I do not think we came out with the kind of energy that we should have and that is something that this team will have to get past as we grow,” UMaine head coach Richard Barron said.
Binghamton struggled shooting the ball in the first half, hitting just 5-28 from the field but sinking all eight of their free throws. The Black Bears got off to a slow start but ended up shooting 45 percent from the field and 4-12 from beyond the arc.
“I think we started playing off our own defense better,” Weckstrom said. “A lot of my 3s came off of somebody else’s screens, so I think we just started running our offense better.”
The Black Bears extended their lead to 20 early in the second half on a 3-pointer from Weckstrom and a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Mikaela Gustafsson.
The Bearcats cut the lead to 14 after senior guard Stephanie Jenson hit a long 2-pointer and Swinson converted a layup on an assist from Jenson.
Weckstrom did not allow that score to last, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and a short jumper to give the black Bears a 57-31 advantage.
The Bearcats scored the last seven points of the game but it was not enough to climb back into it.
UMaine shot the ball well on the day, with 41.1 percent clip from the field and a 40 percent effort from beyond the arc. The Bearcats shot better in the second half, going 11-22 to finish the day shooting 32 percent from the field.
Wood and freshman forward Sheraton Jones pulled down six rebounds apiece to give the Black Bears 38 on the day, five more than Binghamton’s 33.
The Black Bears blocked five shots on the day, the first time that has happened since Nov. 18, 2012. Charles led them with three swats in the contest.
“I’m happy with the game, happy for the win and very, very happy with the cause and the turnout of everybody in the community,” Barron said.
The Black Bears raised over $30,000 for cancer research leading up to Sunday’s game.