Junior guard Alejandra Zuniga poured in a game-high 26 points, including three important 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology snapped the University of Maine’s five-game winning streak with a 61-56 America East victory in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday night.
NJIT, which had lost five of its previous six games, improved to 8-15 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
UMaine fell to 12-11 and 7-3 respectively, and is now just 2-3 on the road in conference play.
Zuniga’s third 3-pointer of the quarter came with 1:40 left off an Olivia Kulyk pass and gave the Highlanders a 58-52 lead.
Zuniga had a chance to seal up the win with 58.3 seconds remaining but missed two free throws.
However, NJIT’s Madilyn Dogs grabbed the offensive rebound and UMaine had to foul Zuniga again.
Zuniga again missed two free throws and UMaine’s Caroline Dotsey grabbed the rebound and Asta Blauenfeldt connected on a layup to make it 58-54 with 46 seconds left.
NJIT’s Marissa Gingrich sank one of two free throws two seconds later to extend the lead to five.
Caroline Bornemann’s layup off a Sarah Talon pass made it 59-56 with 40 seconds left.
The Highlanders turned the ball over with 8.9 seconds left and UMaine called a timeout which enabled the Black Bears to advance the ball to half-court.
Dotsey had a chance to tie the game but her 3-pointer missed and Enya Maguire sewed up the win with two free throws with four seconds remaining.
Zuniga, who came into the game shooting just 26.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and had made just three of her previous 17 threes, went 4-for-7 from long distance. She also had five rebounds and four assists.
Dogs contributed nine points and four rebounds. Trinity Williams produced eight points, five rebounds and two steals, Maguire had seven points and a game-high eight rebounds and Gingrich registered seven points and three rebounds.
Graduate student forward-guard Bornemann led the Black Bears with 22 points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Sophomore forward Dotsey had 12 points and four rebounds.
Sera Hodgson had nine points, three rebounds and two steals, Paula Gallego tallied five points, three rebounds and two assists and Talon and Blauenfeldt had four points each.
Talon also had three assists and Blauenfeldt corralled three rebounds.
NJIT shot 45.1 percent from the floor and 29.4 percent beyond the 3-point arc and UMaine was 41.8 and 31.8 percent, respectively.
NJIT outrebounded UMaine 32-29 and had a 16-3 edge in points off turnovers.
“Zuniga hit some big shots (in the fourth quarter),” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon to Van Wagner and UMaine Sports Properties play-by-play man Don Shields. “And she made four threes after coming into the game shooting 26 percent.
“We didn’t take care of details,” added Vachon. “We turned the ball over too much in the first half.”
UMaine will continue its three-game road trip with a 2 p.m. game at the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Saturday at 2 while NJIT will entertain New Hampshire at 4:30.
