Adrianna Smith scored 64 points her freshman year for the University of Maine’s women’s basketball team.
With five regular season games remaining before the playoffs, the six-foot junior forward from Reston, Virginia has joined an exclusive club.
With her 12 points in Thursday night’s 80-57 win over Bryant University, Smith became the 22nd player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
She now has 1,004 career points.
“It’s great. I didn’t hit that (milestone) in high school,” said Smith. “It’s cool that I could get it in college. It’s exciting.”
“I’m really happy for her,” said Black Bear graduate student guard Anne Simon, whose 1,804 career points ties her with Heather Ernest for sixth on the all-time scoring list.
“She did it in three years which is really incredible,” said Simon. “I’m just happy to see her in the record books and there are definitely more things to come for her.”
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon echoed a similar sentiment, saying she was pleased Smith reached it and can put it behind her now.
“I felt like she was playing with some heavy rock on her the last game and a half trying to get that,” said Vachon. “She does so many things for us. And we are at our best when she is hovering over a triple-double.
“I know that sounds crazy. She is always going to get her rebounds and her points and when she is high in assists, that means we are playing really well and she led us with six tonight. Really, really impressive,” said Vachon.
Smith said there are several reasons behind her success.
“A lot of learning and figuring out what works for me,” said Smith. “And all the faith my teammates have in me. I don’t know how many shots I missed tonight before I made one. But they were still getting me the ball.”
The Black Bears are 10-1 in America East, 17-8 overall, and have already sewn up a home quarterfinal game scheduled for Friday, March 1.
UMaine, Albany and defending champ Vermont are all battling it out for the regular season title and UMaine visits Vermont for a 4 p.m. showdown on Saturday.
Vermont is 10-2 in conference play and 18-8 overall while Albany is 10-1 and 21-3 respectively.
UMaine beat Vermont at the Memorial Gym on Jan. 6, 60-48, but lost at Albany, 54-47, on Jan. 25.
UMaine will host Albany in a season finale on March 2.
Simon leads the conference in scoring, averaging 18.6 points per game thanks to back-to-back 33 and 31-point performances, her ninth and 10th games with at least 20 points this season. Her 2.5 steals per game are second-most, her seven rebounds and 3.3 assists are fourth-best.
Smith is the league’s top rebounder (11.2 rpg) and she is also second in assists (4.4) and third in scoring (16.2). She has the league’s best assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.5.
Senior forward Caroline Bornemann is averaging 8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.7 apg.
Vermont is led by graduate students Emma Utterback, a guard, and Delaney Richason, a forward, along with senior forward Anna Olson.
Utterback is third in the conference in assists (4.2) and sixth in scoring (15 ppg). Olson is ninth in points (11.8) and rebounds (6 rpg) and Richason is averaging 7.6 ppg and 4 rpg.
Simon said games with Vermont and Albany are “always fun.
“It’s definitely good basketball,” said Simon.
“Away games are tough. We have go to out strong and play like we have been,” said Smith.
UVM is 12-1 at its Patrick Gymnasium.
“It’s a big game. It’s just like every other conference game. You have to take care of business,” said Vachon. “We know that place is going to be packed. It’ll be fun. We’ll see what we can do. We’ll give it our best shot.”
