Orono, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team looks to start the season 2-0 as it plays host to Penn (1-0) on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m.
Broadcast Details: Sunday's game will be live streamed on AmericaEast.TV. The game can also be heard on the Black Bears Sports Network.
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The Black Bears look to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2020. The marks the first time the Black Bears have opened the season with back-to-back home games since 2017.
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LAST TIME OUT:
ORONO, Maine --
Paula Gallego poured in a career-high 21 points and added 10 rebounds for her first career double-double to lead Maine in a 65-51 season opening win over La Salle in front of a crowd of 1,507 on Monday afternoon.
Gallego was joined in the double-double category by
Caroline Bornemann who added 12 points and a career-best 14 rebounds while
Sarah Talon hit a career-high five triples to finish with 18 points.
Maine finished the day 10-of-29 from downtown and won the rebounding battle, 40-36. Overall, the Black Bears shot 23-of-55 (41.8) from the floor while holding La Salle to just 20-of-60. Maine assisted on 21 of its 23 made field goals.
The Black Bears came out on fire, opening the first quarter with an 8-for-16 showing from the floor with four triples.
A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
Maine is coming off a season which saw it finish 24-10 overall, 14-2 in America East play, as the Black Bears captured the 2024 America East Championship with a 64-48 victory over Vermont. The win advanced Maine to the NCAA Tournament were it fell at Ohio State in the first round.
The Black Bears were set to return four of their five starters prior to Smith suffering a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. Despite the loss of Smith, the Black Bears will see six of its top eight scorers return from a year ago led by
Caroline Bornemann (7.3 ppg/5.5 rpg),
Sarah Talon (6.5 ppg/2.2 rpg), and
Olivia Rockwood (6.3 ppg/36.7% from 3-point range).
Last year, Maine finished the season as the conference leader in scoring offense (64.1 ppg) with the 18th best turnover per game (12.5) rate as the Black Bears were one of the best teams in the country in terms of ball protection. Maine checked in tops in America East in three-point attempts (24.1). Maine also posted the league's top rebound production at 37.1 boards per game a year ago, winning the rebounding battle in 24 of its 34 outings, with one tie. Maine is 33-7 when controlling the boards of its past two seasons. Head Coach
Amy Vachon enters her eighth season at the helm for Maine after earning her fifth America East coach of the year honor in 2024-25. Earlier this preseason, Vachon was named to the Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid Major Coach of the Year Preseason Watch List.
A LOOK AT PENN:
The Quakers opened the season with a 64-52 win at home over Merrimack. Mataya Gayle, who tallied 28 points against the Black Bears last season, opened the season with a 17 points in the win over the Warriors. Freshman Katie Collins added nine points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks in her debut. Penn is coming off a 2023-24 season in which it finished 15-13, 7-7 in the Ivy. Penn returns four starters from last year's squad under head coach Mike McLaughlin who is in his 16th season at the helm of the Quakers.
SERIES WITH PENN:
Maine enters play 1-2 all-time against the Quakers. Maine won the first two meetings in the series before falling, 72-69, a year ago at Penn. In last year's meeting,
Caroline Bornemann led Maine with 18 points and 10 boards while
Sarah Talon added 14 points. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in Orono. Maine won the first-ever meeting, 69-48, in 2010 at Penn and took the second meeting, 47-46, in a game played at Navy in 2018.
-UMaine-
