Orono, Maine -- Maine (13-8, 6-1 AE) looks to remain undefeated at home in league play when it hosts UMass Lowell (3-16, 3-4 AE) on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at Memorial Gymnasium. The Black Bears have won four-straight against the River Hawks, including a 55-43 victory earlier this season.
Broadcast Details:
Thursday's game will be live streamed on ESPN+. The game can also be heard on the Black Bears Sports Network and on 92.9 FM (Bangor) and 100.5 WLOB (Portland).
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LAST TIME OUT:
Orono, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (13-8, 6-1 America East) outscored Binghamton (7-13, 2-5 AE) by a 17-5 margin in the third quarter to help guide it to a 59-56 come from behind road victory on Saturday afternoon.
Adrianna Smith posted her 15th double-double of the season, and fifth in as many games, with a game-high 19 points and 15 rebounds while
Paula Gallego added her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The duo were joined in double-figures by
Anne Simon (12) and
Olivia Rockwood (11).
Maine continued its rebounding dominance as it held a 40-28 edge over Binghamton on the glass with 18 of the 40 boards coming on the offensive end. The Black Bears shot 19-of-57 (33.3) from the floor with eight triples to go along with a 13-for-20 showing from the free throw stripe.
Defensively, Maine forced 14 Binghamton turnovers while limiting the Bearcats to just 1-of-8 from the floor in the third period.
A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
Maine, off to a 6-1 start in league play for the third time in the last four seasons, is undefeated in league play at home with wins in Orono over Vermont, UMBC, and NJIT. The Black Bears have held all of its conference opponents to 56 points or fewer with four of the 60 held under 50 points. Maine leads the America East in both conference only scoring (65.1) and conference scoring defense (48.4).
Adrianna Smith, who is averaging league-highs in conference scoring (20.7) and conference rebounding (12.1), has posted double-doubles in each of her last five outings and six of the first seven conference games. Her last performance of 19 points and 15 rebounds at Binghamton stretched her double-digit scoring streak to nine in a row. Overall, Smith ranks second in the league in scoring (16.2) and 10th in the nation with 11.1 rebounds per game. Her 15 double-doubles is third best in the country.
Anne Simon, who ranks 7th on Maine's all-time scoring list with 1,725 points, leads the America East in scoring at 17.5 points per game while she checks in fourth in rebounding (7.2) and second in steals (2.6). The Black Bears have done a great job in taking care of the ball as they rank second in the league and 38th nationally with just 13.4 turnovers per game with five games of 10 or fewer turnovers this season.
A LOOK AT UMASS LOWELL:
After losing its first 13 games of the season, UMass Lowell has gone 3-3 in its last six outings with conference wins over New Hampshire, NJIT, and UMBC. However, the River Hawks have drop each of their last three meetings with the latest loss being a 62-53 decision at Vermont. UMass Lowell is 2-9 on the road this season and ranks last in the league in scoring (52.7) and eighth out of nine teams in scoring defense (64.1). Mili Carrear leads the River Hawks at 10.0 points per game with a 34.2 percent clip from downtown. Abbey Lindsey is adding 8.2 points while Sydney Watkins is averaging 7.6 points and a team-high 5.9 rebound. Watkins' 2.9 steals per game lead the America East.
SERIES WITH UMASS LOWELL:
Maine and UMass Lowell are meeting for the 23rd time and second time this season after Maine earned a 55-43 victory earlier this season in Lowell. Maine, 20-2 all-time against the River Hawks, won the first 12 games of the head-to-head series. Maine, 4-1 in its last five outings with UMass Lowell, have won four-straight in the head-to-head series. Since the River Hawks joined the America East in 2013, Maine is 11-1 at home in the all-time series. The first-ever meeting between the two teams came on Jan. 23, 2014, a 75-66 victory by the Black Bears in Lowell.
Anne Simon has recorded double-digit scoring efforts in eight of her nine outings against the River Hawks and enters play averaging 14.6 points and 5.8 rebounds against the River Hawks. In the game between the two programs earlier this season, Smith led the Black Bears with 23 points and 15 rebounds while Simon chipped in 12 points and seven boards.
-UMaine-
