Indiana women’s basketball rallies in fourth quarter to beat UMaine

PORTLAND, Maine — For 35 minutes, the University of Maine’s Black Bears went toe-to-toe with the nation’s 17th-ranked Indiana University Hoosiers in front of 5,983 energized fans at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

The crowd was definitely behind former Gorham High star and Hoosier first team All-American Mackenzie Holmes, and the Hoosiers rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit and overcame a career-high 34 points from graduate student guard Anne Simon to earn a hard-fought 67-59 victory.

Indiana is now 6-1 after winning its fifth straight game.

UMaine fell to 4-4.  

The Hoosiers used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to turn a two-point deficit into a 62-54 lead with 2:58 left and the Black Bears couldn’t get any closer than five the rest of the way.

Yarden Garzon began the decisive run with a 10-foot jumper, and Sydney Parrish notched a traditional point play off a driving layup.

Chloe Moore-McNeil scored the next five points with a short jumper and a 3-pointer.

Holmes scored 22 points and shot 9-for-11 from the floor. She also had seven rebounds.

Parrish finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists, and Sara Scalia had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Garzon and Chloe Moore-McNeil each had seven points. Moore-McNeil had seven assists and Garzon had four.

Simon, who had 25 first-half points, also finished with 11 rebounds and five steals. Adrianna Smith registered 14 points and 13 assists, and Sarah Talon had six points.

Parrish, held scoreless in the first half, erupted for 10 points in the third period to pull the Hoosiers within three after UMaine had taken a 37-29 lead into the intermission.

Garzon, who had just one point through the first three periods, hit three 10-foot jumpers in the first 4:58 of the fourth period to tie it up at 54-54.

Simon had a remarkable first half that saw her shoot 60 percent from the floor and sink five of her six free throws.

The Hoosiers took a 12-7 lead in the first period before Simon scored UMaine’s next nine points during a 9-2 run that gave the Black Bears a 16-14 lead after the first 10 minutes.

She began the flurry with a pair of free throws, nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, converted a steal and layup and, after a pair of Holmes free throws, banked in a 10-foot jumper from the left side just before the buzzer went off.

Her 12-foot base line jumper in the second quarter expanded UMaine’s lead to 27-20 and, after Indiana rattled off a 7-2 run thanks to a pair of Holmes inside baskets and a Scalia 3-pointer, Talon and Simon scored the next eight points before Holmes scored in the paint to close out the half and make it a 37-29 game.

Talon converted a layup off a Smith pass and then busted to the hoop for another layup before Simon made a pair of steals and raced down the court to lay the ball in.

Talon and Smith each had six first-half points. Smith also had nine rebounds and three assists.

Simon had three steals to go with her 25 points, and she also had three rebounds.

Holmes had three rebounds to accompany her 15 first-half points and Scalia had three assists and three rebounds to go with her nine points.