ORONO, Maine — Redshirt senior forward Adrianna Smith poured in 26 points and hauled down 13 rebounds, both game-highs, and the University of Maine Black Bear women’s basketball team cruised to its first victory of the season, 79-53, over Stonehill College (Massachusetts) on the Skip Chappelle Court in the Memorial Gym in Orono Monday.
UMaine is now 1-3 while Stonehill fell to 2-2.
Two of UMaine’s three losses have been by four points or fewer.
Smith also had four assists, two steals and a blocked shot in 27 minutes of playing time.
Senior point guard Asta Blauenfeldt contributed 14 points, five steals, four assists and two rebounds.
Junior forward Lizzy Gruber from Gardiner contributed 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
Kaliyah Sain had six points and Cumberland’s Maddie Fitpatrick had five as did Mackenzie Mori.
Windham’s Sarah Talon had nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
“We focused on our defense. We were real upset about our performance at (Virginia Commonwealth). We focused on that and it really showed today.”
UMaine lost to Virginia Commonwealth in its last game, 81-77.
“We have so much talent on this team and we’re figuring out how to play together. It came together really well, today,” said Smith. “I’m really proud with how we bounced back from the last game.”
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said her team didn’t do what it wanted to do or needed to do on the defensive side of the ball against VCU but did on Monday.
“We talked about the things we did need to do and our team responded really well to that and executed really well,” said Vachon.
“UMaine is very talented,” said Stonehill coach Trisha Brown. “Their post player (Smith) is hard to guard and she can score in a lot of different ways. Their pace was great. We didn’t play to their pace and they really took advantage of our breakdowns.
“There is some good leadership and veterans on their team to get them organized and run their stuff as well as they do. That’s a good team,” said Brown.
UMaine held Stonehill to 36.4 percent shooting from the floor and 29.4 percent beyond the 3-point arc and forced 22 turnovers leading to a 21-5 edge in points off turnovers.
UMaine outrebounded the smaller Skyhawks 45-31 including a 16-9 edge on the offensive glass and had a 44-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 14-7 edge in second-chance points.
Brooke Paquette had a team-high 13 points for Stonehill and she also had two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Bella Mallory had 12 points, two rebounds and two blocked shots and South Paris freshman Ella Pelletier had eight points and three rebounds.
Smith had a double-double in the first half with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Black Bears took a 39-22 lead into the intermission.
She also had two steals, an assist and a blocked shot.
Blauenfeldt contributed eight points, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Fitzpatrick had four points and Talon had five rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocked shots and two points.
The Black Bears used a 13-4 spurt to close out the first quarter and build a 17-10 lead.
They expanded that lead by outscoring the Skyhawks 22-12 in the second period.
The Black Bears shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second quarter compared to Stonehill’s 41.7 percent.
UMaine outrebounded Stonehill 24-14 in the first half leading to a 22-12 edge in points from the paint.
