ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s women’s basketball team had been thumped by Harvard in their last two meetings, 84-56 last year and 69-40 in 2019.
But the Black Bears got a measure of revenge on Wednesday night as they outscored the Crimson 47-32 in the second half and pulled away for an impressive 79-61 triumph at the Memorial Gym.
UMaine improved to 6-4 while Harvard, which was without injured leading scorer Harmoni Turner, fell to 5-4.
Graduate student guard Anne Simon scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half and had eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Senior guard/forward Caroline Bornemann had 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals; sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher produced 13 points off the bench and junior forward Adrianna Smith finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
It was Smith’s seventh double-double of the season.
Senior guard Lola Mullaney sparked the Crimson with 18 points, four assists and three rebounds. Abigail Wright had 12 points, Elena Rodriguez had 11 to go with five rebounds and five assists and Karlee White had 10 points and seven rebounds along with three assists and three steals.
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The first half was a turnover-fest with Harvard turning the ball over 14 times and UMaine giving the ball away 12 times.
UMaine took a 32-29 lead into the intermission.
Harvard built a 14-9 lead which represented its biggest advantage of the first half before the Black Bears strung together a 10-3 run spanning the first and second periods to take a 19-17 lead.
Bornemann scored six of the 10 points with a layup off a Simon pass; another layup off her own steal and a pair of free throws.
Bornemann led all scorers in the first half with 10 points. She also had three assists, two steals and two rebounds. Talon had six points and Christopher came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer and two free throws to close out the half.
Smith and Simon were held to four points apiece.
Mullaney’s eight points and three assists paced the Crimson. Wright produced six points off the bench. White had five points and four rebounds and Krupa and Rodriguez each had four points. Krupa had three assists and three rebounds and Rodriguez had two assists and two rebounds.
Both teams shot 12-for-25 from the floor.
