Orono, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball earned the 2024 America East regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming America East playoffs with a 63-46 victory over UAlbany in front of a sold out crowd of 1,425 at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Maine will host an America East quarterfinal contest on Friday, March 8 at Memorial Gymnasium at 5 p.m. Tickets for the quarterfinal contest are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting GoBlackBears.com/tickets or by calling 207.581.BEAR.

Adrianna Smith packed the stat sheet in the win, finishing with 23 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals for her league-leading 21st double-double of the season. Anne Simon added a game-high 25 points on 7-of-18 from the floor and a 9-for-10 showing from the free throw stripe to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.

Maine, which outscored UAlbany 36-14 in the paint, finished the afternoon 22-of-48 (45.8) from the floor with three triples while going 16-for-20 from the free throw line. Maine's defense forced UAlbany to 17 turnvoers while holding the Great Danes to just 3-of-18 from downtown and 16-for-52 (30.8) overall.

The Black Bears, who led by as many as 20 in the win, outscored the Great Danes 19-7 in the second quarter and 21-14 in the fourth to help close the win out.

Maine trailed by a pair, 11-9, after one quarter but opened the second on an 11-0 run. Driving layups from Sarah Talon and Smith built the lead to nine before Simon's triple put the Black Bears on top by nine with 7:21 left in the first half.

UAlbany cut the lead back down to three before Maine capped the second quarter on a 7-0 run. With Maine leading by five, Smith pulled down and offensive board and went back up strong for the bucket while drawing a foul. A made free throw was followed by a late layup off a turnover from Caroline Bornemann as Maine would lead by 10, 28-18, at the break.

Maine opened the second half on an 8-2 run, growing the lead out to 16 on a second change layup from Simon.

The Great Danes trimmed the lead back down to eight before Bornemann's bucket late in the period sent Maine into the fourth leading by 10.

Simon would score the first seven points of the fourth quarter as her own 7-0 run built the lead to 17 with 7:38 left to play.

After UAlbany cut the lead down to 13, Maine responded with a 7-0 run capped on another hoop and the harm followed by a made free throw from Smith. The stretch gave Maine its largest lead of the contest, 61-41.

The Black Bears would cruise the rest of the way, capturing the win to finish the regular season at 21-9 and 14-2 in America East play.

Maine will open the America East tournament by hosting a quarterfinal on Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m.

-UMaine-