For the second straight game, the University of Maine’s defending America East champion women’s basketball team turned in a solid 37-minute performance on the road only to falter in the last three minutes and wind up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
Albany outscored UMaine 10-4 over the last 3:29 of the game to break a tie and post a 60-55 victory over the Black Bears at the Broadview Center in Albany on Saturday afternoon.
Albany is now 14-3 overall and 4-0 in America East and has won four of the last five meetings against UMaine. The Great Danes have won four straight and are 9-0 at home this season.
UMaine fell to 7-10 and 2-2, respectively.
On Thursday night, Binghamton outscored UMaine 10-0 over the final 3:29 to earn a 69-59 victory.
On Saturday afternoon, two-time All-America East first team selection Kayla Cooper’s free throw with 3:29 remaining tied the game at 51-51.
Following a UMaine miss, Albany’s Jessica Tomasetti grabbed the rebound and Lilly Phillips’ layup gave Albany the lead for good with 2:41 remaining.
After another UMaine miss and a Black Bear turnover, Cooper hit a free throw with 1:47 left.
She missed her second free throw but the 5-foot-5 Tomasetti grabbed the offensive rebound and hit a pull-up jumper 18 seconds later to make it 56-51 with 1:28 to go.
Asta Blauenfeldt hit a layup with 1:08 remaining to pull UMaine within three but Cooper answered with a layup off a Tomasetti pass with 35 seconds remaining and Cooper added a pair of clinching free throws with 17 seconds remaining after UMaine had missed a pair of 3-pointers.
Blauenfeldt closed out the scoring with a basket with four seconds remaining after UMaine had missed four of its previous five shots.
Cooper finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists to pace the Great Danes. Graduate student guard Phillips produced 13 points and two rebounds and graduate student and Mount Saint Mary’s transfer guard Tomasetti had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Senior guard Meghan Huerter had 11 points and graduate student guard and Monmouth University transfer forward Kaci Donovan contributed nine points and two rebounds.
Senior guard Sera Hodgson had a season-high 16 points for the Black Bears and she also had two assists. Graduate student forward-guard Caroline Bornemann also had 16 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds and two assists.
Junior guard Blauenfeldt finished with 15 points and senior guard Paula Gallego had three assists and three rebounds.
Graduate student guard Olivia Rockwood and Gallego, who combined for 30 points against Binghamton on Rockwood’s 20 and Gallego’s 10, combined for only two points with Rockwood hitting one field goal.
Albany shot 48.8 percent from the floor and 45 percent beyond the 3-point arc while UMaine was 42.9 and 26.3, respectively.
UMaine will host the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Thursday at 6 p.m. while Albany will travel to Bryant Thursday.
