Orono, Maine -- Caroline Bornemann poured in a career-high 21 points to lead the Black Bears to a 63-49 victory over No. 8 Hartford in the America East quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. The victory, Maine's 13th in a row, advances the Black Bears to the America East semifinals for the eighth consecutive season.

Bornemann finished her impressive afternoon 8-of-13 from the floor while adding three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Anne Simon registered her eighth career double-double with 17 points and 12 boards while Maeve Carroll added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Maine, which outscored the Hawks 12-4 down the stretch, forced 20 Hartford turnovers, 13 coming in the second half, as the Black Bears finished with a 28-4 edge in points off turnovers.

Maine, which never trailed after the 7:49 mark of the first quarter, held Hartford to just 2-of-10 shooting in the fourth quarter to help close out the quarterfinal victory.

Hartford led early but an 8-0 run by the Black Bears put the hosts up seven early in the fourth and they would never trail again.

The Hawks kept charging, trimming the lead to just one early in the second quarter. However, the Black Bears would respond with a 9-0 run as back-to-back buckets from Bornemann and Simon gave Maine its first double-digit lead, 24-14, of the contest.

The lead would reach 11 but Hartford again answered. A 12-2 run by the Hawks, spanning the end of the second quarter and into the third, cut the lead to just one.

Hartford unable to get over the hump as Maine took advantage of consecutive turnovers by Hartford and cashed in, stretching the lead back out to seven before Simon's fastbreak bucket put Maine up 10.

The Black Bears' lead would not shrink below six the rest of the way.

Hartford would get within seven with 4:02 left in regulation but would not score again for the next 3:36 of game play. Over that span, Maine was able to extend the lead to 16 thanks to a 9-0 run and eventually close out the quarterfinal victory by a final of 63-49.

-UMaine-