Albany climbed into first place in the America East women’s basketball standings thanks to the play of two newcomers in the Great Danes’ showdown against the University of Maine on Thursday night.
Six-foot-two freshman forward Deja Evans returned to the lineup after missing three games due to injury and scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots and Fordham University transfer point guard Sarah Karpell had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists as the Great Danes beat the cold-shooting Black Bears 54-47 at the Broadview Center in Albany.
It was Albany’s 13th straight win and the Great Danes improved to 17-2 overall and 6-0 in the conference.
UMaine had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 12-8 and 5-1.
Albany came into the game as the nation’s second stingiest team among 348 Division I schools, allowing only 51.5 points per game, and the Great Danes limited the Black Bears to a dismal 28.1 percent shooting performance from the floor.
UMaine entered the game shooting 44.1 percent from the floor in conference games.
They held UMaine graduate student guard and conference scoring leader Anne Simon to just six points, her second lowest total of the season.
Simon, who entered the game averaging 18.4 points per game, went just 3-for-13 from the floor and missed all four of her 3-point attempts.
The Black Bears, who missed 17 of their first 20 shots, were able to battle back from a 10-point deficit late in the third period to pull within one at the end of the period thanks to a 9-0 run to close out the quarter.
Junior forward Adrianna Smith had the last six points after she fed Olivia Rockwood for a 3-pointer that triggered the flurry.
Albany’s Kayla Cooper and UMaine’s Simon swapped early fourth-quarter baskets before layups by Evans and graduate student Karpell extended the lead to 41-36 with 6:50 to go.
Sarah Talon’s free throw with 4:38 left ended a UMaine scoreless drought of 3:47 to make it 41-37.
Simon and Smith sandwiched baskets off drives to the rim around one by Karpell to make it 43-41 with 3:16 to go.
Karpell hit the first of two free throws with 2:48 to go and missed the second one, but Evans grabbed the offensive rebound and fed Lilly Phillips for a crucial 3-pointer that swelled the lead to 47-41.
“You can’t do that,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon to Black Bear Sports Properties/Van Wagner play-by-play man Don Shields, referring to UMaine’s inability to grab the defensive rebound off Karpell’s free throw miss.
Talon’s free throw made it 47-42 with 1:52 left.
Talon missed a three with 1:16 remaining and Evans converted a Cooper pass with 1:03 remaining to build the lead to seven and UMaine couldn’t get any closer than three the rest of the way.
A 3-pointer by Caroline Bornemann did cut the lead to 50-47 with 22 seconds left but Cooper hit a pair of foul shots two seconds later and, after Smith missed a 3-pointer, Evans made a pair of free throws.
Senior guard Cooper had 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Junior guard Phillips contributed eight points and two steals and graduate student forward Helene Haegerstrand had nine rebounds and three points.
Smith posted her 14th double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. She also had four assists and three steals. She was the only Black Bear in double figures scoring-wise.
Senior guard-forward Bornemann finished with nine points and five rebounds. Simon, whose string of 13 consecutive double-digit scoring games was snapped, had 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists to go with her six points. Senior guard Rockwood and sophomore guard Talon had six points each and Talon also had two rebounds and two assists.
“We really struggled offensively,” Vachon said. “We dominated a lot of other categories like offensive rebounds (19-7) and turnovers (11 compared with Albany’s 17), but we couldn’t score.”
She credited Albany for its defensive play and the job the Great Danes did on Simon.
“We also took some uncharacteristic shots,” Vachon said.
Her team will travel to Vestal, New York, for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday against Binghamton.
Albany will host New Hampshire on Saturday at 2 p.m.