Wood leads UMaine past Lowell
The University of Maine women’s basketball team played host to the University of Massachusetts Lowell in a 68-54 victory that turned out to be a very special night.
Third-year forward Liz Wood recorded the first triple-double of her career with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Wood led the team in both rebounds and assists, with second-year guard Sigi Koziar the leading scorer for the Black Bears with 14 points.
UMaine, who brought the league’s top-ranked defense into Wednesday night, showed their prowess by forcing UMass-Lowell to 23 turnovers, leading to 26 points. This was the second straight game in which the Black Bears forced 13 steals.
The River Hawks’ offense was led by fourth-year guard Shannon Samuels, who had a game-high 19 points but also committed seven turnovers.
UMaine pulled away at the end of the first half, going on a 21-3 run which spanned over 10 minutes long near the end of the first half.
The Black Bears ended the first frame with a flurry of scoring with back-to-back three-pointers from Koizar and third-year guard Chantel Charles to send UMaine into the half up 36-26. Charles had a strong showing, scoring 10 points with five boards, three steals and three assists.
Both teams opened the second half slowly, with the Black Bears going nearly five minutes without scoring. When they did score, on a pair of free throws from Koizar, the offense came together. Third-year guard Lauren Bodine, who was injured for the beginning of the season, knocked down back-to-back threes to put the game out of reach for Lowell.
The River Hawks fell to 7-9 and 1-3 in conference play.
UMaine outlasts Stony Brook
The Black Bears traveled to take on the Seawolves in a nail-biter on Saturday that culminated in a 58-55 UMaine win.
Koizar scored a game-high 23 points for her fifth straight double-digit scoring game.
The Black Bears dominated Stony Brook in the paint, outscoring the Seawolves 32-14 down low.
It was a close contest throughout, with the largest lead in the first half being five points, the result of a three-pointer from third-year forward Mikeala Gustafsson coming at the 12:48 mark.
The Black Bears came out of the locker room firing, starting the second half with a 9-2 run, five of which from Koizar.
Stony Brook cut the lead down, Wood went on a 7-0 run on her own to give Maine a 41-31 lead with 10 minutes left in the game.
The Seawolves responded with a clutch three pointer from fourth-year forward Sabre Proctor, cutting the lead to just 2 points with 19.3 seconds remaining. Proctor led the Seawolves with a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 boards.
After a series of free throws from both squads, the Seawolves ended up with the ball and in need of a desperation three to tie the game and force overtime. The halfcourt heave was no good, sealing the 58-55 victory for the University of Maine, their third consecutive win in America East play. The next time the Black bears will be in action will be on Jan. 19 when they host Binghamton University.