Orono, Maine -- Maine, which has won four of the last five meetings with UMBC, begins a two-game homestand by hosting the Retrievers on Thursday evening at The Pit at 6 p.m.
Tickets remain available for the game and can be purchased at GoBlackBears.com/tickets or in-person at the gates.
Broadcast Details:
Thursday's game will be live streamed on ESPN+. The game can also be heard on the Black Bears Sports Network and locally in the Bangor market on 92.9 FM.
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LAST TIME OUT:
Durham, N.H. --
Adrianna Smith posted her 11th double-double of the season to lead the Black Bears to a 78-52 win in the Border Battle, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings, at New Hampshire on Thursday evening.
Smith, who finished 9-of-13 from the floor, led all scorers with a season-high 28 points to go along with 15 rebounds and four assists for her third double-double in her last four outings.
Anne Simon added 11 points, running her double-digit scoring streak to 11 in row. Simon also moved past Sigi Koizar and into eighth on Maine's all-time scoring list with 1,677 career points.
Olivia Rockwood knocked down four triples to finish with 12 points.
Maine was dominant on the boards, outrebounding the Wildcats 35-22. The Black Bears are now 10-3 this season when winning the rebounding battle and have conquered the rebound column in each of their first three conference outings. The Black Bears finished the evening 27-55 (49.1) while hitting 15-of-16 from the free throw stripe.
Maine's defense forced 27 turnovers, turning the mishaps into a 32-17 edge in points off turnovers.
A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
Maine is off to a 3-0 start in league play for the second consecutive season and have been tremendous defensively through the first three games of league play. Maine is holding its conference opponents to just 47.7 points per game and have yet to surrender more than 52 point to a conference foe this season.
Anne Simon, who recently moved into eighth on Maine's all-time scoring list with 1,677 points, leads the America East in scoring at 18.8 points per game and has posted double-digits in each of her last 11 outings. Simon, who checks in third among league leaders in rebounding (7.3), has been equally impressive on the defensive end where she ranks second in the league at 2.6 steals per game including a 4.7 steals per game mark in league competition.
Adrianna Smith, who was named America East Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday, ranks among the top-10 on the America East leaderboard in eight categories including rebounding (1st - 10.9), scoring (6th - 15.4), and assists (3rd - 4.5). Her 10.9 rebounds are good for 15th best in the nation. Smith, who tallied a season-high 28 points with 15 rebounds last time out for her 11th double-double of the season, has posted a double-double in nine of her last 12 games. In league play, Smith sits atop the leaderboard in both conference scoring (22.0 ppg) and rebounding (12.3). Maine has won the rebounding battle in all three of its conference games, and five of its last six overall, and enter play ranked second in the league at 37.4 rebounds per game.
A LOOK AT UMBC:
The Retrievers enter Orono on a two-game losing skid after falling to Vermont (70-55) and UMass Lowell (59-46) at home but have won each of their last three road games. UMBC ranks fifth in the league in scoring (61.6) and eighth in scoring defense (64.3) with a league-best 16.6 free throw attempts per game. The Retrievers struggle to take care of the ball, ranking last in the America East with 18.6 giveaways per game. Anna Blount leads UMBC in scoring at 11.6 points per game and ranks fifth in the America east with 7.1 rebounds. Jaliena Sanchez is adding 9.3 points while Jordon Lewis adds 8.9 points. Jaden Walker balances her efforts with 7.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.
SERIES WITH UMBC:
Maine has won nine of its last 11 meetings against the Retrievers and lead the all-time series, 25-14. Maine is 15-5 at home against UMBCÂ and have won three-straight against the Retrievers on its home court. The two teams first met on Jan. 24, 2004 with Maine coming away with a 60-45 victory in Baltimore. The Black Bears would go on to win each of the first five meetings in the all-time series. The teams split the meetings last season, scoring a 71-54 victory in Orono before dropping the most recent meeting by a score of 74-57 at UMBC.
Adrianna Smith totaled 25 points in last year's meeting in Orono before posting 33 points in the latest meeting in UMBC. Smith is averaging 16.3 points in her career against UMBC.
Anne Simon, who is averaging 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in the all-time series, missed the last game against the Retrievers due to injury.
-UMaine-
