ORONO, Maine — Graduate student guard Anne Simon followed her 33-point performance against New Hampshire with 31 points on Thursday night as the University of Maine outscored Bryant 55-32 in the second half to earn an 80-57 America East victory at the Memorial Gym.
UMaine won its fifth in a row and improved to 17-8 overall and 10-1 in the conference. Bryant fell to 12-13 and 5-7.
The Black Bears missed their first nine field goal attempts and trailed by as much as nine in the first half but used a 12-4 spurt to close out the half and go into the intermission tied 25-25.
But after shooting a dismal 27.6 percent in the first half (8-for-29) including a 2-for-12 showing from beyond the 3-point arc, they shot 62.5 percent from the floor (20-for-32) in the second half including a blistering 76.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc (10-for-13).
Simon had six steals, four rebounds and four assists to go with her 31 points.
Junior forward Adrianna Smith notched her 18th double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and she eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career. She now has 1,004 points.
She also had six assists and four steals.
Senior forward Caroline Bornemann had 12 points and four rebounds and junior guard Sera Hodgson came off the bench and poured in four 3-pointers for 12 points. Hodgson also had two assists and two steals.
Junior guard Paula Gallego came off the bench and dished out five assists.
Freshman forward Silvia Gonzalez had 14 points to lead Bryant. Freshman forward Nia Scott had nine points and eight rebounds and senior center-forward Mariana Planes Fortuny finished with nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Impressive freshman guard Mia Mancini had a game-high nine assists to go with eight points and two rebounds.
Smith began its late first-half surge with a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 21-15.
Caroline Bornemann got a favorable bounce on her base line drive off a Gallego pass and, seconds later, Simon sank a pair of free throws to close the gap to 21-19.
Mancini fed Scott for a layup to extend the lead but a Gallego free throw and a Simon steal and eventual layup sliced the lead to one.
Again Mancini passed to Scott for a layup but Simon hit a three from the corner off a Gallego pass to tie it up with 21 seconds left in the half.
Simon had 13 first-half points and Smith had four to lead UMaine.
Planes Fortuny had seven for the Bulldogs and Scott and Mancini had six apiece.
UMaine outscored Bryant 28-15 in the third period and continued to pull away in the fourth.
UMaine will travel to Vermont for a showdown with the defending league champion on Saturday at 4. Bryant will travel to UMass Lowell for a 2 p.m. contest.
