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Maine Falls to West Virginia in WNIT
MORGANTOWN, WV--The University of Maine women's basketball team fell to West Virginia 74-59 in the first round of the WNIT Tournament on Friday night in Morgantown, WV. The Black Bears finish their season 20-10. The Mountaineers improve to 18-12 on the season and will face St. John's in the second round of the WNIT.
Maine set a school record for free throw percent in the game as it connected on all 24 of its attempts. The previous record of 96.2 percent was set in 1983-84 when the Black Bears went 24-of-25 from the line in a game against Southern Maine. Neither team scored the first 3:03 of the contest. Abby Schrader (Pt Pleasant, N.J.) put the Black Bears up 2-0 with a pair of free throws. The Mountaineers scored the next seven points before Maine was able to answer with a three-point field goal by Missy Traversi (Attleboro, Mass.). West Virginia then extended its lead to 18-7 behind 11 straight by Meg Bulger. Maine cut the deficit to five points with 4:36 remaining in the first half, but West Virginia scored four unanswered points to push its lead to nine points with under three minutes to play in the half. The Mountaineers took a 33-24 lead into intermission. Maine shot just 26.9 percent in the first half, while West Virginia connected 50 percent of the time. The Black Bears, however, had an advantage from the free throw line, hitting all eight of their shots. All eight players to see action for Maine in the first half scored at least one point, led by Ashley Underwood (Augusta, Maine) who had five. Schrader was strong on the glass as she pulled down seven first-half rebounds. West Virginia built its lead to 12 points less than five minutes into the second half. Maine continued to chip away at the West Virginia lead, but every time the Mountaineers would answer. The Mountaineers picked up their seventh team with 12:02 remaining in the half, sending the Black Bears to the free throw line the remainder of the game. At that point, Maine was a perfect 15-of-15 from the free throw line. Maine continued to chip away at the lead and continued to go to the free throw line. The Black Bears cut the deficit to just three points with just over 10 minutes remaining. WV hit a three-point field goal to stop the Maine run and push their lead to six points. The Mountaineers went on an 13-0 run to regain an 16 point advantage with just under nine minutes to play in the contest. Maine could not get the lead under 12 the rest of the night. Underwood led the Black Bears with 14 points. Monica Peterson (Wilmington, Del.) finished with 12 points and finishes her career just shy of the 1,000 point plateau. Abby Schrader added nine points and a team-high 12 rebounds, while Traversi also added nine point for the Black Bears. The Black Bears were without America East Player of the Year Kim Corbitt (Albany. N.Y.) who missed the game with an injury.
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