ORONO – University of Maine senior guard Paula Gallego scored a career-high 21 points, connecting on 8 of her 10 field goal attempts, and junior guard Sarah Talon from Windham poured in 18 more to lead the University of Maine women’s basketball team to a 65-51 win over La Salle University at the Memorial Gymnasium on Monday.
It was a mutual season-opener and the first ever Field Trip Game at The Pit, with children from seven local schools in attendance.
Gallego had 10 rebounds and three assists to accompany her 21 points which were eight more than her previous high.
Talon had two rebounds and two assists in addition to her 18 points.
Graduate student guard/forward Caroline Bornemann added 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for the Black Bears.
Transfer point guard Asta Blauenfeldt had a game-high six assists to go with five points.
Gallego and Talon accounted for 24 of UMaine’s points in the first half with 18 of those points coming via 3-pointers.
Gallego had 13 points thanks to 3-for-5 shooting beyond the 3-point arc.
Talon scored 11 points and went 3-for-4 from long distance.
Gallego also grabbed six rebounds.
Bornemann also had six rebounds to go with four points and three assists.
Connor and Quinn had five first-half points apiece for the visitors with Macktoon and Magassa contributing four each.
UMaine used a 14-2 run spanning the first and second quarters to break a 9-9 tie and build a 23-11 lead.
Talon had a pair of threes and a layup and Gallego had two threes.
But the Explorers went to a 2-1-2 zone trap in the second period and forced seven turnovers which helped them whittle the deficit down to seven at the intermission.
