University of Maine
Rhode Island
Williams' Career-High 19 Leads Maine Past URI, 62-58
11/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
KINGSTON, R.I. -- Brittany Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) tallied a career-high 19 points as the Black Bears would play solid defense down the stretch and hit their free throws to come away with a hard fought 62-58 victory over Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon. The Black Bears improve to 1-1 on the season while the Rams fall to 0-2.
Ashleigh Roberts (Wilmington, Del.) also tallied double-figures as she finished with 15 points and eight rebounds while freshman Courtney Anderson (Greene, Maine) chipped in 10 points, the first double-digit performance of her career.
With the two teams knotted at two points apiece for the first 5:12 of the contest, freshman Danielle Walczak (Lee, N.H.) would draw a foul on the shot and knock down a pair of free throws, giving Maine a 4-2 advantage.
Maine would battle out of another tie as Anderson netted Maine's first three-pointer of the season, and the first of her career. Rhode Island would once again tie things up before Maine picked up the defensive pressure, staging a 15-1 run and stretching the lead to double-figures at 17-7. Williams powered the run with an 8-0 run of her own after a pair of threes and a fastbreak layup off a steal at the top of the key. Anderson would give Maine its biggest lead of the half at 22-8 as she nailed her second three of the contest with 8:13 to play in the half.
The Rams would chip into the Maine lead as they broke out on a 7-0 run spanning 4:24 after a foul shot, back to back buckets and a fast break layup by Teneka Whittaker. Williams put a stop to the run as she would work down low, driving baseline and laying in her tenth point of the first half.
Rhode Island ended the half with a couple threes, cutting the Maine lead to 27-22 at the break.
Williams led the Black Bears with 12 first half points on 5-for-8 shooting including going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.
Rhode Island came out of the half quickly, cutting the Maine lead to just one before Williams would hit a jumper. After forcing a turnover on the other end of the court, Maine would head the other way where Corinne Wellington (Rochester, N.Y.) worked hard on the low post, powering a shot up through a crowd to push the Black Bear lead to 33-28. Maine continued its 6-0 run as Roberts fed Williams with a pass as Williams was able to curl around the defense and lay in her 16th point, matching a career high for the senior guard.
The teams would trade hoops as the Black Bears would maintain their six point lead until Ashley Rivera hit a three before Whittaker knocked down a jumper to cut the Maine lead to just one. Roberts would answer for the Black Bears with a nice dribble-drive, hitting the hoop, drawing the foul and making the free throw for the old school three-point play. After a pair of free throws by Anderson, Maine's lead would grow back to six at 49-43 with 7:42 to play.
Rhode Island battled back, cutting the Maine lead to one but the Black Bears would again answer as Walczak made a nice move at the top of the key, powering into the lane and laying the ball off glass. Anderson would then knock down a 12 footer, her tenth point of the afternoon, to run the Maine lead to eight, 57-49.
Rhode Island would piece together an 8-0 run to take a 58-57 lead with 1:08 to play. Roberts would again answer as she worked her way inside, laying in her 15th point of the contest to put the Black Bears up by one with 49.9 to play. Maine's defense would pick it up at the other end as Roberts pulled down the board, giving Maine possession and forcing Rhode Island to foul Williams, who would hit the second of two, giving Maine a 60-58 advantage with 20.0 to play. The Black Bears defense would again come up big, forcing an air ball by Rivera as Williams would come down with the board and get fouled. After making the pair, Maine would lead 62-58 with just four seconds remaining. The Black Bears would hold on, maintaining their 62-58 lead for the victory.
The Black Bears return to action on Saturday, Nov. 19 in its season opener, a 1 p.m. contest against visiting Bryant University.
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