ALBANY, N.Y. -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (18-16) came out on fire in Friday's America East Championship game, racing out to a 16-6 lead over UAlbany in the first quarter. However, the Black Bears could not hold on to the lead, falling in the title game at UAlbany for the second-straight year by a score of 66-50.

Sigi Koizar paced Maine's attack with 14 points to go along with five rebounds. Koizar, who finished her career sixth on Maine's all-time scoring list with 1,671 points, tallied double-digits for the 80th time in her career. Freshmen Fanny Wadling (13) and Blanca Millan (11) joined Koizar in double-digits while Millan added seven rebounds.

Koizar and Millan were named to the America East All-Tournament team for their efforts in postseason play while Koizar earned the league's Elite 18 award for achieving the highest grade-point average (3.97) of any tournament participant.

Turnovers proved to be the difference as the Black Bears struggled through 24 giveaways, allowing Albany to take a 26-2 advantage in points off turnovers. The Great Danes also won the offensive battle in the paint where they outscored Maine, 32-16.

Maine got out to a hot start, shooting 60.0 percent (6-for-10) over the opening 10-minutes to take a 16-6 lead on Albany. The Great Danes couldn't buy a basket in the first period, shooting 3-for-17 (17.6%) as the Black Bears enjoyed an early lead.

Maine found itself up by 12 with 37-seconds remaining in the first quarter after back-to-back buckets by Anita Kelava and a pair of free throws by Tanesha Sutton lifted Maine's lead to 10. Wadling capped Maine's 10-0 run with a layup, giving the Black Bears their largest lead of the game, 16-4.

Albany responded, outscoring Maine 19-6 in the second period. The Great Danes erased Maine's advantage with a 15-2 run as they grabbed their first lead of the game, 19-18, with three minutes left in the half.

Albany's lead grew to five before a pair of Koizar free throws to end the half sent Maine into the break trailing 25-22.

The offense didn't slow for the Great Danes as they continued to add to their lead by outscoring Maine 24-12 in the third. Albany started the quarter with an 10-2 run to take its first double-digit lead of the game.

Back-to-back triples from Millan brought Maine back within seven but Albany closed the half strong. The Great Danes put together a 12-2 run, swelling the lead out to 17, before carrying a 49-34 advantage into the final quarter.

The Black Bears, trailing by 15, cut the lead down to 10 on a 5-0 run. Koizar's bucket chipped the lead to 12 before Millan found Wadling for a fastbreak layup, 2:03 into the fourth.

However, it would be as close as Maine could manage, ultimately falling by a score of 66-50.

Maine caps its season 18-16 after making it to its second consecutive America East championship game.

-UMaine-