Orono, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (5-2) looks for its fourth consecutive win when it wraps up a five-game road trip at Harvard (4-4) on Tuesday evening. The Black Bears are 3-1 on their current road trip following a convincing 85-73 victory at North Carolina on Sunday.
Blanca Millan enters Tuesday evening just 10 points shy of becoming the 20th player in UMaine history to record 1,000 career points.
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LAST TIME OUT:
Five Black Bears posted double-digit scoring totals and Maine matched a school-record with 16 three-point field goals in an 85-73 road win at North Carolina on Sunday afternoon. The victory extended Maine's win streak to three and improved the Black Bears to 5-2 on the year.
Maine's 85 point total marked its most against a Division-I opponent since tallying 87 against New Hampshire on Jan. 29, 2015.
Blanca Millan posted her 18th, 20-plus scoring performance with a team-high 21 points, going 8-for-17 from the field, to go along with a season-high seven steals.
Tanesha Sutton added 17 points, eight boards and four steals while
Dor Saar chipped in 15 points and matched a career-best with nine assists.
Parise Rossignol added 14 points and
Kelly Fogarty hit four three-pointers for 12.
Maeve Carroll was a force inside, totaling a career-high 11 boards in the win.
Maine's offense was on fire from start to finish as the Black Bears went 30-for-61 from the floor including an impressive 16-of-33 from three-point range. Maine assisted on 24 of its 30 field goals, its highest assist total of the season and most since a 25 assist effort last February against New Hampshire.
A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
The Black Bears enter play riding a three-game win streak and fresh off the heels of one of their largest non-conference wins in recent history, an 85-73 victory on the road at North Carolina.
Blanca Millan, who earned the America East Co-Player of the Week honor for the second time this season following a 21 point, seven steal effort at UNC, leads Maine at 17.1 points per game. Millan, who stands just 10 points away from 1,000 in her career, recently moved into eighth all-time at Maine with her 181 steal. The junior guard currently ranks third in the America East in scoring and 32nd in the nation at 3.14 steals per game.
Tanesha Sutton, currently riding a three-game double-digit scoring streak, matched a season-high with 17 at UNC. Sutton, who ranks ninth in the league in scoring average, also checks in ninth in rebounding (6.0) and his fourth wit ha 46.3-percent showing from the floor.
Parise Rossignol is adding 9.0 points and 4.0 rebounds while
Dor Saar is averaging 8.7 points and ranks third in the league with a team-best 4.6 assists.
Maine, which matched a school-record with 16 three-point field goals at UNC, check in first in the America East and 37th nationally at 8.7 makes from downtown per game. The Black Bears feature three players (Saar, Millan, Rossignol) who rank in the top seven of America East leaders in three-point makes per game. Maine has done a terrific job taking care of the ball through its first seven games, ranking 19th in the nation with just 12.6 turnovers per game. Defensively, Maine leads the league at 9.9 steals per game
A LOOK AT HARVARD:
The Crimson enter play winners of two of its last three, but most recently had its two-game winning streak snapped with a 72-67 double overtime loss to Quinnipiac. One of Harvard's four losses this season came to No. 1 Notre Dame. Junior Katie Benzan leads three Crimson which averaged double-digits. Benzan checks in at 14.3 points per game and a team-high 4.5 assists. Sydney Skinner is adding 12.3 points and a 43.8-percent mark from three-point range. Jadyn Bush, who has tallied five double-doubles this season, is averaging 12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds with an impressive 62.3-percent showing from the floor.
Harvard leads the Ivy League with a 41.4-percent mark from the field and check in second in the Ivy at 69.4 points per game. Harvard leads the Ivy with 9.0 three-point field goals per game and a 33.6-percent showing from beyond the arc. Rebounding is a strong suit for the Crimson, who rank second in the Ivy at 42.0 boards per game.
SERIES WITH HARVARD:
Maine and Harvard will meet for the 17th time and the fifth time in as many years. Maine holds a 9-6 all-time mark over the Crimson following a 76-51 victory in last seasons meeting. In that contest, Millan went 12-for-13 from the floor while pouring in 28 points. Her 92.3 field goal percentage broke Katie Whittier's old mark (91.6) from 2005. Maine and Harvard's first-ever meeting came in 1984, an 86-56 Black Bear win. Maine is 3-4 all-time on the road against Harvard, with its last win at Lavietes Pavilion coming in 2015. Millan enters action averaging 19.0 points in her career (two games) against the Crimson. The teams have split each of the last three meetings.
MILLAN QUICK TO 1,000:
Entering play at Harvard,
Blanca Millan stands just 10 points away from becoming the 20th Black Bear to reach 1,000 points in her career. Should she eclipse the mark at Harvard, she would reach the accolade in her 75th game. That would make her the seventh fastest in Maine history to reach the mark.
RECORD NIGHT IN NORTH CAROLINA:
The Black Bears matched an all-time, single-game record for three-point field goals with 16 makes in their win at North Carolina.
STORMING BACK TO WIN THE CLASSIC:
In both of its games at the Navy Classic (vs. NC A&T and vs. Penn), Maine trailed both at the half and with five-minutes to go. However, Maine was able to comeback in both games, winning each and capturing the Navy Classic title.
MILLAN DOUBLE-FIGURE STREAK:
After starting the season with double-figures in each of Maine's first five games,
Blanca Millan has tallied double-digits in six of Maine's first seven, including back-to-back 20+ point efforts against Bryant (23) and #20 Duke (25) and a 21 point showing at North Carolina. Dating back to last season, Millan has posted double-digit scoring totals in 36 of her last 38. In all, Millan has finished in double-digits in 52 of her 74 career contests.
MILLAN CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME STEALS CHART:
Millan has tallied 181 steals over her time at UMaine. Currently, Millan's steal total ranks her 8th on Maine's all-time steals list. Millan needs three more steals to tie Melissa Heon for 7th all-time (184).
SUTTON ON THE BOARDS:
During the 2017-18 campaign, Sutton led the Black Bears in rebounding and ranked fourth among America East leaders at 6.9 rebounds per game. Currently, Sutton stands just 46 career boards away from 500 in her career. Taking a look at Maine's all-time rebounding standings, Sutton is 98 boards behind Ashley Roberts for 20th all-time (552).
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