ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women’s basketball team ran its winning streak to three games on Thursday evening, using a 23-7 run over the last 8:13 of the first half to build a 42-23 halftime lead and cruising to a 74-44 America East victory over UMass Lowell at the Memorial Gym on Thursday night.
UMaine improved to 10-10 overall and 5-2 in America East. It was the Black Bears’ third straight win.
UMass Lowell fell to 2-16 and 0-6 and lost its eight game in a row.
“I was happy with our team. It was a good team win,” said UMaine coach Amy Vachon. “We did well on both ends of the floor.”
Sophomore forward Caroline Dotsey came off the bench to pour in 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the floor including a 4-for-5 outing from beyond the 3-point arc.
“It all kind of came together for all of us,” said Dotsey. “We played together as a team. That made it a lot easier. We have found ourselves as a team and that’s what’s showing on the court now.”
Dotsey said after hitting her first few shots, “it felt good so I just kept shooting.”
Graduate student guard-forward Caroline Bornemann, who was honored in a pre-game ceremony for reaching the 1,000-point plateau in her career, notched 16 points to go with five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Paula Gallego had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals and junior guard Asta Blauenfeldt had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Gallego said the team didn’t take the River Hawks lightly.
“We don’t take any conference game for granted. We know we have to battle every single quarter,” said Gallego.
Sophomore guard Abbey Lindsey’s 16 points and four rebounds and redshirt senior guard Sydney Watkins’ 11 points, five rebounds and five assists led UMass Lowell. Alex Gitchenko and Rayne Durant had six points each and Gitchenko also had five rebounds.
Gallego had eight points and three assists during the decisive second-period flurry.
“We knew we had to keep pushing and we did,” said Gallego.
UMaine shot 60 percent from the floor in the second period compared to UMass Lowell’s 30.8 percent showing.
Gallego and Blauenfeldt each had 10 points in the first half to share scoring honors. Gallego also had five assists, two rebounds and two steals. Blauenfeldt had two rebounds and two assists.
Dotsey produced eight points and two rebounds in the half.
UMaine wound up shooting 58.8 percent from the floor (30-for-51) and 36 percent from long distance (9-for-25) over the course of the game.
UMass Lowell shot 38.9 percent from the floor and missed all six of its 3-pointers.
UMaine outrebounded the River Hawks 38-20.
UMaine was leading 19-16 when it began its 23-7 run.
Sarah Talon began the flurry with a pair of layups with Gallego feeding her for the second one.
Lindsey hit a turnaround jump shot for UML but Blauenfeldt answered with a layup off a Gallego pass.
Watkins sank one of two free throws before Bornemann scored inside off a Gallego pass and Gallego drove the lane for a bucket to make it 29-19.
Gitchenko scored inside but UMaine rattled off the next 13 points to make it 43-21.
Blauenfeldt registered a traditional 3-point play before Gallego nailed a pair of long threes, Dotsey scored inside and Bornemann sank a pair of free throws.
Durant closed out the first-half scoring with a basket.
UMaine will play again next Thursday when the Black Bears travel to New Hampshire for a 6:00 game. UMass Lowell will take on UNH on Saturday at 1 in Durham, New Hampshire.
