University of Maine
Penn
Maine Falls to Penn in the First of Two Games in the State of Pennsylvania
12/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA – The Maine women's basketball team (1-7) fell to Penn (3-4) 69-48 Friday Night at the Palestra. Amber Smith (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) led the Black Bears with 11 points. She also scored her 100th career point and posted the sixth double-digit game of her career. Smith is the fastest freshman to score 100 points since Samantha Baranowski (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) reached 100 points in her 11th game of the 2008-09 season.
Penn jumped out to an early lead behind early Maine turnovers. The Quakers bolstered their lead late in the game with a 41-25 rebounding advantage. Alyssa Baron and Erin Powers scored 16 points each for Penn, while Jess Knapp and Powers pulled down 10 boards each.
Maine tied Penn in the second half with 33 points, but was outscored 36-15 in the first period. Jaymie Druding (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) scored seven points for the Black Bears and was second on the team to Smith. Tanna Ross (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) added four points and two rebounds. She has played and scored in every game this season and is the only player who has not started a game to do so.
The Black Bears, who lead the America East in three-point percentage coming into the game, went scoreless from behind the arc until Shareka Maner (Spring Hill, Fla./Nature Coast) drained a three with six minutes remaining in the second half. Maner made her first career-appearance in the second half, and with the appearance every Black Bear has now played in a game this season.
Maine went on a 9-0 run to pull to within 20, 45-26, halfway through the second half. Ross and Druding scored four points each during the run. Penn extended their lead back to 25, before the Black Bears cut it to 60-40 with five minutes to play.
Penn led 36-15 at halftime behind hot shooting from freshman Alyssa Baron. Baron drained six field goals in the first period and scored 14 points. Maine was stymied by 15 turnovers; but Rachele Burns (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) recorded four steals herself, helping force nine Penn turnovers. Smith and Ashleigh Roberts (Wilmington, Del./Concord) led the way for UMaine with four points each.
Druding and Greer Babbe (Papillion, Neb./Papillion-La Vista) both recorded their second starts in a row as Maine went with the same lineup as last time out at Holy Cross.
Ross and Katelyn Vanderhoff (So Lititz, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) both reached milestones in games played. Ross played in her 70th game of her career, while Vanderhoff played in her 30th and started her 15th straight.
The Black Bears will return to the court Sunday at noon against Penn State in University Park, Pa.
