University of Maine
Vermont
Black Bears Defeated at Vermont, 57-48
1/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BURLINGTON, VT. -- The University of Maine women's basketball team were defeated 57-48 at Vermont on Thursday evening. The loss drops Maine to 3-15 and 1-5 in America East play while Vermont improves to 2-17 and 2-4 in league play. Maine was led by its America East Player of the Game Ashleigh Roberts (Wilmington, Del.) who notched 17 points with eight rebounds.
Vermont was led by Tonya Young's 16 points and seven rebounds. Lauren Buschmann was the America East Player of the Game for Vermont as she tallied 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Black Bears would jump out to an early 3-0 lead on a free throw by Amber Smith (Ipswich, Mass.) and a nice jumper by Ali Nalivaika (Worcester, Mass.). Vermont would fight back with a basket of their own which was matched by a driving layup by Roberts. The Catamounts would then go on a 10-0 run over the next seven minutes, sparked by five points from Young, to take a 15-5 advantage.
Smith would head back to the line on two different occasions, knocking down four in a row from the charity stripe to cut the lead to six with 8:45 remaining in the first half.
The Black Bears would come out of the media timeout and go on a 6-1 run to cut the Catamount lead to five, 20-15. Brittany Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) would capitalize on a turnover and score a fastbreak layup while being fouled. The Black Bears defense would gain another turnover and push the floor, working the ball around the offense as Nalivaika would get open on the left block and lay the ball in. Roberts would then score on a putback for her fourth point of the night to bring Maine within five with 4:30 to play.
The teams would trade baskets for the next four minutes before Katelyn Vanderhoff (Lititz, Pa.) would push the floor and hit a spinning layup in transition with 1.3 seconds to play in the first half to bring the Catamount lead to just four, 25-21, at the half.
Roberts would lead the Black Bears in the first half with six points and seven rebounds. Nalivaika also notched six first half points on 3-for-5 shooting.
Vermont was led by Young and Lauren Wheeler who each had five points. Wheeler also added four rebounds in the half for the Catamounts.
Maine would trade baskets with Vermont in the opening minutes of the second half before Nalivaika would get a big block right to teammate Vanderhoff. The Black Bears would once again push the floor with Roberts getting the layup. After a Vermont hoop by Lauren Buschmann, Tanna Ross (Newburgh, Maine) would knock down a three from the right corner to bring Maine within two 29-27.
Vermont would extend its lead to 36-27 as they went on a 10-2 run over a four-minute span before Ross matched a Vermont three with a trey of her own. It was the eighth straight point Ross, bringing the Black Bears within seven with 10:17 to play in the half. Roberts would then nail a nice up and under, fastbreak layup for her 11th point which gave her double-digits in her last 10 games.
Vermont would stage a 5-0 run on two free throws by Buschmann and a free throw and jumper by Young to regain their 10 point lead. Samantha Baranowski (Stanhope, N.J.) would provide six points off the bench in the final minutes including a jumper to cut the lead to eight. However, Vermont would hang on and pick up the 57-48 victory.
Maine returns to action when it hosts Stony Brook on Sunday, Jan 23rd at 1 p.m.
-U-M-
