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Women's Basketball Opens Exhibition Slate With Win Over UNB
Nov. 2, 2008
ORONO, Maine - Brittany Boser scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor to lead the University of Maine women's basketball team to a 78-66 victory over New Brunswick in an exhibition on Sunday in Alfond Arena. The game marked the first of two exhibitions for the Black Bears before they kick off the 2008-09 regular season on Nov. 16 at ACC-power Duke. Maine's final exhibition will be on Friday night when the Black Bears play host to Husson University at 7:30 p.m. in Alfond Arena. Amanda Tewksbury tallied a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Black Bears. Katia Bratishko was Maine's other double-figure scorer with 12 points. Maine shot 44 percent from the floor (28-of-64), and went 19-of-24 from the free throw line for a 79-percent clip. Boser was 9-of-9 at the free throw line. The Black Bears were strong at the foul line last season as they finished 28th out of 338 teams nationally in free throw percentage. Maine collected 13 steals, including four each from Kristin Baker and Tewksbury. Baker also added six points and six assists to go along with her swipes. The Black Bears forced the Varsity Red into 26 turnovers. The Black Bears shot 51 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes and held a 43-29 lead at the intermission. Maine raced out to a 9-2 lead a little over four minutes into the contest on the strength of four points from Bratishko and a three-point play from Boser. The Black Bears pushed their lead out to 11 points at 33-22 with 4:45 to play in the half on a jumper by Boser. Maine led by double-digits the rest of the frame in taking the 14-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
Maine continued the strong offensive play in the opening minutes of the second half and built a 28-point advantage at 65-37 with 12:19 to go in the game on a Tewksbury layup. However, UNB fought back, and over the next eight minutes, cut its deficit down to eight at 67-59.
Freshman center Samantha Baranowski hit a jumper in the paint to push Maine back up to double-digits at 69-59. But Amanda Sharpe hit a layup at the other end to pull New Brunswick back within eight at 69-61. UNB had a chance to get closer on its next three possessions, but Tewksbury came up big all three times with two rebounds and a steal to prevent a further comeback. Tewksbury was also 4-of-4 from the foul line in the final few minutes to help seal the win for Maine. Colleen Kilmurry and Baranowski each had eight points for the Black Bears. Tanna Ross added four assists. Sharpe led UNB with 17 points and six rebounds. Tashina Van Vlack was the Varsity Red's other double-figure scorer with 14 points. |
