ORONO – With another showdown with defending champ Vermont in Burlington, Vt. on Thursday morning, the University of Maine women’s basketball team wanted to build some momentum against visiting UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon on the Skip Chappelle Court at the Memorial Gym in Orono.
And the Black Bears did just that as the Black Bears received a career-high 26 points from senior guard Asta Blauenfeldt and 21 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three steals from fifth-year senior forward Adrianna Smith en route to a comfortable 92-42 victory.
The 92 points is the most scored by the Black Bears against a Division I opponent since a 95-66 win over Binghamton on Jan. 27, 2019.
Freshman guard Lala Woods had 10 points and senior guard Sarah Talon had nine points, four rebounds and two steals.
“I saw a couple of shots go in and, for me, most of the time, that’s what I need,” said Blauenfeldt. “My teammates kept finding me for those open shots. Once I saw one go in today, I felt good.”
She said the entire team turned in a “great performance.
“We still have to work on boxing out. That’s our focus point with Vermont and Bryant coming up the next two games. Overall, everyone contributed on both ends of the floor.”
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said her team was “really locked in on the defensive end. We did a really good job defending and guarding the ball screen coverage, making things really difficult for them. And, offensively, I thought we move the ball well. People were ready to shoot the ball and when they’re ready to shoot, a lot of good things happen.”
Senior guard Jaini Edmonds has 13 points and two rebounds for UMass Lowell. Freshman guard Tyanna Medina had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals and junior guard Maddie Rice had seven points and eight rebounds.
UMaine, which overcame an 11-point deficit to beat the River Hawks 73-65 earlier this season in Lowell, improved to 11-11 overall and 6-3 in America East.
The River Hawks suffered their ninth straight loss and are now 6-16 and 0-9, respectively.
UMaine shot 54.7 percent from the floor and 50 percent beyond the 3-point arc compared to UML’s 29.3 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively. UMaine forced 17 turnovers leading to a 25-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
“Maine is phenomenal,” said UMass Lowell first-year coach Jon Plefka. “Smith being the centerpiece but there are so many players who help her out. Lala Woods is phenomenal and killed us the first time (with 17 points) and she was great today. And number six (Blauenfeldt) was unbelievable.”
UMaine has won the last 10 meetings between the two and is 26-2 in the all-time series.
The Black Bears hit 13 3-pointers with seven different players notching at least one.
“It was a great, well-rounded team win,” said Smith whose double-double was her 10th of the season.
She entered the game tied for 20th in the country among players at 359 Division I schools in double-doubles with nine and her 21.6 points per game average was 12th best in the nation.
Blauenfeldt scored 11 of her 16 first-half points in the second quarter including three of her four 3-pointers as the Black Bears outscored the River Hawks 27-11 to take a 46-20 lead into the intermission.
The Black Bears had used a 17-4 run to close out the first period to build a 19-9 lead.
UMaine forced 11 turnovers in the first half which led to a 15-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
UMaine shot 60.6 percent from the floor in the first half to UML’s 29.6 percent and the Black Bears hit seven of their 3-pointers while the River Hawks went 3-for-19.
Blauenfeldt had two rebounds and Smith contributed 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Woods added 10 points and hit two of her three 3-pointers.
UMass Lowell will also play Thursday as the River Hawks will host the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 6.
