ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (13-13, 6-5) looks for the season sweep of UMass Lowell (3-21, 0-11) when the two meet at the Cross Insurance Center on Thursday at 7 PM. Maine is 4-0 in league play at home and 7-1 overall.

FULL PREVIEW/GAME NOTES

A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
On Monday evening, Maine snapped a four-game road losing streak with a big 66-60 road victory at Hartford. The win lifted Maine over the Hawks in the America East standings and in to fifth spot with five games remaining. Laia Sole (19 pts) and Julie Brosseau (17) led Maine with 36 points off the bench. Blanca Millan also finished in double-figures with 14.

Maine features a pair of scorers who are averaging double-digits in senior guard Sigi Koizar (12.5) and freshman forward Laia Sole (10.3). Koizar ranks ninth in the league at 12.5 points per game and is third best from the free throw line (80.0) and eighth with 1.8 makes from beyond the arc per game. Sole has cranked up her play during league action. In games against America East competition, Sole ranks seventh in scoring (13.0), 16th in rebounding (5.1) and third in field goal percentage at an impressive 51.7%. Sole has recorded double-digit scoring performances in each of her last three games and seven of Maine's 11 conference games. Fellow freshman Blanca Millan is averaging 11.5 points per game in league play, shooting 50.5% from the floor and 35.3% from downtown. Defensively, Millan's ball-hawking ability has accounted for a team-high 49 steals, placing her eighth among league-leaders (1.9). Julie Brosseau, who hit four 3-pointers at Hartford en route to a career-high 17 point effort, is 11th in the league from 3-point range (34.0%) and ranks fourth with a total of 49 field goals from downtown.

Maine's defense continues to roll as the Black Bears rank 47th among national leaders, allowing just 58.3 points per game. Most recently, Maine held the league's top scoring offense (Hartford - 68.3) to eight points under its average. Maine's 40.4% mark is third-best in the league. Offensive rebound has been a recent highlight for the Black Bears as they're averaging 10.8 rebounds on the offensive end per game, led by Sutton who has pulled down a total of 58 offensive boards this season.

SCOUTING UMASS LOWELL:
The River Hawks enter play winless in conference play as they've lost 11 in a row after dropping an 86-44 decision to Stony Brook on Monday. UMass Lowell's last win came on Dec. 30, a 74-48 win over Keene State. The River Hawks are also winless on the road this season (0-12). The visitors are last in the America East in offense (56.1 ppg) and defense (73.2), being outscored by a -17.0 margin. Part of the struggle has come from turning the ball over where UMass Lowell leads the league with 581 turnovers this season and features a -10.04 turnover margin.

Individually, junior Kayla Gibbs leads the River Hawks as she is averaging 12.6 points per game and 8.5 rebounds. Her 61.2% mark from the floor is tops in the league. Gibbs also leads the River Hawks in assists (2.5). Nicole Hayner is adding 8.6 points and is the top 3-point threat for UMass Lowell at 35.2%.

A GLIMPSE INTO THE SERIES:
The Black Bears have won all seven meetings with UMass Lowell, including a 65-44 triumph earlier this season. In that win, Maine was led by Laia Sole who recorded her second 20+ scoring performance (20) of the season. Maine outscored UML 27-6 in the second quarter to help secure the win. Brosseau (12) and Wadling (12) also added double-digits back in Jan. 11 while Maine forced 25 UMass Lowell turnovers. Maine is 3-0 at home against UMass Lowell outscoring the River Hawks 226-163 in the three home meetings. Maine has forced 22 or more turnovers in each of its last four meetings with UMass Lowell as the River Hawks are averaging 21.1 turnovers in seven contests. Maine has limited UMass Lowell to 46 or fewer points in each of the last four meetings. The River Hawks are averaging just 52.1 points per game in the series. Sigi Koizar, who missed the latest meeting, enters play averaging 12.8 points per game against UMass Lowell. Koizar dropped a career-high 32 in her last game against the River Hawks.

-UMaine-