The University of Maine women’s basketball team squandered a golden opportunity to take sole possession of first place in America East on Thursday night.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County, loser of its previous five games, rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to beat the Black Bears 67-59 at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore.
The Retrievers outscored the cold-shooting Black Bears 22-10 in the third period to erase a 10-point halftime deficit and used a 9-2 run in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 55-46 with 5:52 left.
UMaine couldn’t get any closer than six the rest of the way.
A win would have given the Black Bears a one-game lead over Albany in the title chase since the Great Danes got pounded by defending champ Vermont 67-35 in Burlington, Vt. on Thursday.
Now both UMaine and Albany are 11-2 in the conference and Vermont is 11-3.
UMaine hosts Albany in the season finale on March 2 in Orono.
UMaine is 18-9 overall.
UMBC improved to 9-17 and 5-9, respectively.
UMaine beat UMBC 76-47 on Jan. 18 in Orono.
The Black Bears and Albany each have three conference games left and Vermont has two.
UMaine missed its first seven shots of the third quarter and was outscored 16-2 by the Retrievers. Two Anne Simon free throws were the only points UMaine scored until Sarah Talon sank a layup with 3:26 left in the quarter.
UMaine shot 8-for-28 from the floor in the second half including a 2-for-12 showing beyond the 3-point arc. UMBC shot 15-for-27 from the floor and 2-for-6 from long distance.
Anna Blount had 12 of her 17 points in the second half to pace UMBC. She also had nine rebounds.
Jordan Lewis had eight of her 12 points after the intermission and Jaden Walker finished with 11 points. Lewis and Walker each had four rebounds. Carmen Yanez had eight points.
Simon finished with a game-high 22 points for UMaine and she also had 10 rebounds and three assists. Adriannna Smith had 16 points and 10 rebounds for her 19th double-double of the season. She also had three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
Talon and Olivia Rockwood had eight points each.
UMaine will travel to take on the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday at 2 p.m. while UMBC will host New Hampshire at 1.