BANGOR, Maine -- A little home cooking proved to be just what the University of Maine women's basketball team needed. The Black Bears returned home to the Cross Insurance Center for the first time since Dec. 10 and earned their first America East victory of the year in a 72-40 rout of UMBC on Saturday afternoon. It was a statement win of sorts by the Black Bears over the Retrievers, who were selected second in the America East preseason poll.

The Black Bears, who outscored UMBC 46-22 in the second half, were terrific on both sides of the ball, moving through the offense efficiently as it assisted on 21 of its 26 field goals. Defensively, Maine held UMBC to just 40 points and a 23.3-percent (14-for-60) mark from the floor while ripping down 53 rebounds, its most since a 56 rebound effort on Dec. 1, 2015. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Black Bears.

Freshman Blanca Millan led the Black Bears, knocking down 5-of-8 from 3-pointer range on her way to matching a career-high 17 points. Millan added six rebounds and four assists to the best game of her young Maine career. Julie Brosseau notched double-digits for the fourth-straight game, finishing with 12 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Anita Kelava added to Maine's success with eight rebounds, a game-high six assists and five blocks while Naira Caceres chipped in eight points and eight boards off the bench.

Maine, who was without senior Sigi Koizar, finished action 26-for-59 from the floor (44.1%), hitting 9-of-19 from beyond the arc and outscoring the Retrievers 28-16 in the paint. A year ago, Maine produced an almost identical effort, defeating UMBC 72-38 at the Cross Insurance Center.

The Black Bears, broke an early tie with a 6-0 run, with four points coming from Laia Sole, to elevate their lead to 10-4. Millan's triple late in the quarter, the first of her five on the day, gave Maine a seven point advantage after one.

Maine's lead never dipped below five throughout the second quarter. A pair of free throws from Sole before a jumper by Brosseau gave Maine its largest lead of the half, 21-12, midway through the second quarter.

UMBC chipped the lead back down to five but a 3-pointer with just 2-seconds remaining in the first half from Caceres sent Maine into the break leading 26-18.

Maine's offense really caught fire in the second half as the Black Bears knocked down seven of their nine 3-pointers over the final 20-minute stretch and dominated the boards with a 31-14 advantage.

The Black Bears exploded out of the halftime break with a 17-2 run, keyed by a trio of 3-pointers from Millan, swelling the lead out to 23 at 43-20 with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter.

Maine kept the defensive pressure on, crashing the boards and clicking on the offensive end where it was able to break out an 8-2 run to extend the lead out to 27 on a 3-pointer from Brosseau.

A brief 4-0 run from UMBC to end the third stopped the bleeding for a bit before Maine turned it on again out of the break. The Black Bears scored the first nine points of the quarter to take a 31-point lead on the visiting Retrievers.

The lead would not sink under 24 the rest of the way and in fact grew as a late layup from Isabel Hernandez Pepe gave Maine its largest lead of the game, 70-38. The Black Bears would go on to cruise to a 72-40 league victory.

Maine is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 11 when it travels to take on UMass Lowell at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

-UMaine-