ORONO, Maine — Anne Simon’s ankle is fine.
The University of Maine’s graduate student guard and the leading scorer in America East, who missed the last game with a sprained ankle, poured in a game-high 33 points to lead the Black Bears to a 67-48 conference basketball victory over the scrappy University of New Hampshire Wildcats in front of a large and energetic crowd at the Memorial Gym on Saturday afternoon.
UMaine improved to 16-8 overall and 9-1 in league play while UNH fell to 9-15 and 3-8, respectively.
The game was part of the celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Simon shot 12-for-19 from the floor including 5-for-9 beyond the 3-point arc. She was also 4-for-5 from the free throw line. The 33 points is her career-high in conference play and one shy of her career-high in all games, which she accomplished earlier this season against James Madison and nationally ranked Indiana.
She also had six rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Simon came into the game shooting 35 percent from the floor and 22.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc in America East play.
“The past games in America East I haven’t shot the ball the way I wanted to or the way I shot it in non-conference. I lost a little bit of my confidence,” said Simon, who came into the game shooting 35 percent from the floor and 22.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc in America East play.
“It was just good to see the ball go in and having the trust of my teammates in giving me the ball and firing me up. It was really nice,” added Simon, the 2021-22 America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year who missed 16 games last season due to a sprain to the same ankle.
“Unfortunately it was the same ankle again, but it wasn’t as bad as last year,” said Simon. “My trainers got me ready, and I did a lot of [physical therapy] to be back as soon as I could. I taped it and braced it. It felt good during the game.”
“She is a special player,” said UNH head coach Kelsey Hogan. “We were preparing for her. It’s like the Michael Jordan effect. Coming in sick or not, I knew she [would] give her best effort.”
Sophomore guard Sarah Talon from Windham had a season-high 15 points, three rebounds and a game-high two blocked shots for UMaine.
Junior forward Adrianna Smith contributed 10 points and a game-high 17 rebounds for her 17th double-double of the season, which ranks her in the top three in the country. She also dished out three assists.
Senior guard Olivia Rockwood nailed a pair of 3-pointers for six points and also had three assists.
Sophomore forward Lucia Melero led the Wildcats with 12 points. She also had four rebounds. Senior guard Bella Stuart and sophomore guard Breezie Williams each had nine points and sophomore guard Avery O’Connor produced eight points off the bench.
Williams also had eight rebounds and four assists and Stuart hauled down six rebounds.
The Wildcats, who lost to UMaine 78-52 at home on Jan. 11, had trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but made several runs to eventually close to within two late in the second period.
They forced three turnovers with a full-court press early in the third period and were trailing by only six points when Simon scored a 3-point play when she was fouled going in for a layup. That made it 40-31.
Talon then blocked a UNH shot and went in for a layup. She missed it, but Rockwood passed to Simon for a three to expand the lead to 12.
Moments later, Caroline Bornemann passed to Rockwood for a three and a 15-point lead.
UNH again battled back and pulled within 10 early in the fourth quarter but the Black Bears rattled off a 6-2 run courtesy of two nifty driving layups by Talon and a left handed layup by Smith.
Moments later, Bornemann’s only 3-pointer of the game, just before the shot clock expired, sewed up the win.
“Shooting with confidence is one of the biggest things I need to work on,” said Talon. “I know this team wants me to shoot the ball when I have the chance and if they think it’s going to go in I should, too. Them giving them those open passes lead to open shots and they went in. So I’ll take them. I’m just really glad to see the ball go in for everyone tonight.”
The Black Bears used a 13-3 run to close out the first quarter and build its largest lead at 23-12.
Simon had nine of the points and Smith had the other four.
But O’Connor nailed a 3-pointer and a short jumper to open the second period and Belen Morales-Lopez sank a pair of free throws to sink the lead to four.
Talon’s 3-pointer rolled around the rim and dropped through to stop the UNH run but the Wildcats answered with a 10-4 spurt to pull within two late in the half.
But Rockwood fed Simon for a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left in the half and, following a UNH turnover and a couple of UMaine misses, the Black Bears got the ball under the UNH basket with less than a second remaining and Simon passed to Rockwood, who hit a three as time expired to give UMaine a 37-29 lead.
Simon’s 19 first-half points, Talon’s eight and Smith’s seven paced UMaine.
O’Connor’s eight and five apiece from Stuart and Williams led UNH.
UMaine will entertain Bryant (R.I.) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Memorial Gym while UNH will entertain defending champ Vermont, also at 6 p.m.
