Women's Basketball Hosts Bryant in Home Opener at Memorial Gym
11/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes -- Live Stats -- Video -- Audio
ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team welcomes Bryant to Memorial Gymnasium for this afternoon's home opener for the Black Bears. Maine enters the contest 9-1 in its last 10 home openers and will be looking for its second win in a row after defeating Rhode Island last Sunday, 62-58. The women's basketball team last played in Memorial Gym on Jan. 26, 1993 when it defeated Dartmouth 60-59 in an overtime thriller.
Maine will be looking to go above .500, with more than just one win, for the first time since the 2007 season. Also, a win will give the Black Bears its first winning streak of two plus games since they did so on Jan. 21 and 28, 2010 with wins against Binghamton and at Albany.
The Black Bears opened up the 2011-12 campaign last weekend with a pair of road contests at Central Connecticut State and Rhode Island. Maine returned to Orono at 1-1 after splitting the weekend series with a 53-48 loss at Central Connecticut State and a 62-58 win at Rhode Island, the Black Bears' first win against Rhode Island since the 2002 season. Sophomore guard Ashleigh Roberts currently leads the Black Bear scoring attack as she is averaging 15.5 points per game along with 7.0 rebounds. Roberts is in the midst of a four-game streak of scoring in double-figures, dating back to last season. Fellow guard Brittany Williams has had a career-high start to the season. In Maine's season opener, Williams pulled down a career-high eight rebounds before tallying a career-high 19 points in the Black Bears' win at Rhode Island. Williams is also currently averaging double-figures with 14.0 points per game to go along with 5.0 rebounds. Freshman Courtney Anderson has had a solid start to her collegiate career as she is averaging 6.0 points per game. Anderson was in double-figures for the first time in Maine's win at Rhode Island when she tallied 10 points in cluding shooting 2-for-4 from beyond the arc while adding a team-high four assists. As a unit, Maine is averaging 55.0 points per game. Maine will also debut an enitrely new coaching staff to the home crowd as Richard Barron (Kenyon College '91) takes over the head coaching duties with Maine. He is assisted by Jill Poe, former Black Bear Amy Vachon, and Jhasmin Player. Coach Barron picked up his first career win as a Black Bear when Maine defeated Rhode Island.
The Bulldogs, who were picked in the preseason to finish eighth in the 12-team North East Conference, enter today's game at 1-1 as they opened up with a thrilling 78-76 win over Colgate on the road before dropping a 66-53 decision to Iona in the season opener for the Bulldogs. At one point, Bryant trailed Colgate by 20 points before storming back and outscoring the Raiders by 10 in the second half to complete to comeback win. Bryant returns 11 from last year's team, including four starters, who finished 10-19 overall in the 2010-11 season. Katie Whittington has came off the bench in each of the Bulldogs' first two games and is currently leading the team in scoring, averaging 14.0 points per game. Sophomore guard Jenniqua Bailey is also in double-figures on the year as she is averaging 11.0 points per game.
Maine will square off with Bryant for just the second time in the 48 year history of the Black Bears women's basketball program. However, the meeting will be the second in as many years as the two teams met up on this same date, Nov. 19, of last year. In last season's contest at Bryant, Maine was able to hold on for a 75-66 victory. The 75 points were the most the Black Bears scored in a game all last season and the most since they tallied 87 points in a win vs Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 30, 2009. Amber Smith paved the way in the win for Maine last season as she netted a career-high 22 points. Two other current Black Bears were also in double-figures as Samantha Wheeler tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double and Ashleigh Roberts dropped 12 points. The Black Bears are 20-6 all time against teams from the North East Conference (NEC). The current 12 team conference is comprised of Bryant, Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, Monmouth, Mount Saint Mary's, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis (N.Y.), Saint Francis (Pa.) and Wagner. Maine has only faced seven of those teams all-time.
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