BANGOR, Maine — Good teams find ways to win games when they aren’t at their best.
The University of Maine women’s basketball epitomized that on Thursday night at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor where the Black Bears outlasted the gritty Binghamton Bearcats 57-51 behind graduate student guard Anne Simon’s game-high 26 points.
In a game that was moved from the Memorial Gym in Orono because of a power outage in the town, the Black Bears overcame an 8-1 deficit to start the game; turnovers on four consecutive possessions in the third quarter and a nightmarish 0-for-12 shooting performance from reigning America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith.
“It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to win and that’s all that matters,” said Simon, whose family is visiting her from Luxembourg.
UMaine improved to 20-9 overall and 13-2 in America East with a Saturday afternoon showdown (1 p.m.) looming against visiting co-leader Albany for the regular season title and the right to host all of its playoff games. It is the regular season finale for both.
UMaine improved its record to 82-20 at the Cross Insurance Center which served as its home court for several years before switching to the Pit (Memorial Gym) last season.
Binghamton fell to 12-16 and 7-8 after having its three-game winning streak snapped.
Simon had 10 rebounds and three assists to go with her 26 points. This was her 12th game this season with 20 or more points and fourth in her last six.
Sophomore guard Sarah Talon had nine points, five rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot in 19 minutes and 17 seconds of playing time, and junior forward Smith had eight points off free throws along with 13 rebounds and seven assists, which were both game-highs.
Senior guard Olivia Rockwood contributed five points and two assists and senior forward Caroline Bornemann had seven rebounds and three assists along with a steal and three points.
Sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher had a 3-pointer and two rebounds.
Sophomore guard Ella Wanzer’s 14 points, including a 4-for-7 shooting performance beyond the 3-point arc, paced the Bearcats. Graduate student guard Denai Bowman had 10 points to tie her with Kai Moon for fifth all-time in scoring. She now has 1,476 career points.
She also had six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Freshman forward Kendall Bennett had eight points and sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz finished with seven points, four rebounds and four assists.
The Black Bears took the lead for good late in the second quarter after using a 14-2 spurt spanning the first two quarters to erase the 8-1 deficit.
With the score tied 17-17, Smith sandwiched four free throws around a 3-pointer by Simon to build a 24-17 lead before a Meghan Casey layup closed out the half to pull Binghamton within 24-19.
UMaine took its biggest lead of the game at 32-19 by scoring the first eight points of the third period on a Talon free throw, a back door cut producing a layup for Simon off a Smith feed, two Smith foul shots and a Christopher 3-pointer.
UMaine’s four successive turnovers fueled an 11-0 run by the Bearcats that sliced the lead to two with just over two minutes left in the third period.
But Simon nailed a three and, following a Bennett basket, Bornemann hit a three, Talon converted her steal into a basket and Simon sank two free throws to close out the period.
Two more backdoor cuts by Simon off Smith passes extended the lead to 46-32 early in the fourth quarter and UMaine survived several runs by Binghamton to claim the win.
A Smith pass to Rockwood for an important layup with 1:22 remaining stopped a 5-0 Binghamton run and put the lead back up to nine.
“We work on that a lot in practice. Liv was open and I gave her the pass,” said Smith.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as the defenses dominated.
The two teams shot a combined 28.3 percent from the floor.
UMaine got off to a dreadful start, managing just one Smith free throw until Simon sank a layup off a pass from Smith with 2:44 left in the period.
But the Black Bears recovered.
“I’m proud of our team,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon. “Binghamton is a really good team and they’re playing really well right now. We played really good team defense for three quarters. (Smith) struggled (to score) but made some incredible passes and Anne had a double-double, which is great. We also got nine from (Talon) and five from (Rockwood) and we need that (scoring) balance.”
“We really focused on defense. That’s what gave us the chance to execute on offense,” said Simon. “We found the open shooter and knocked down shots.”
Binghamton’s Bowman thought her team did an excellent job guarding Smith and gave a good account of itself by battling to the end.
“Anne Simon dominated tonight. She did what she does best: back cuts and hitting threes. She did a great job,” said Bowman, whose Bearcats conclude their regular season at New Hampshire on Saturday at 1.
