BANGOR, Maine — There are a lot of scoring options for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.
The Black Bears received key contributions from a couple of bench players on Wednesday night, which helped them earn their third straight win.
Junior Liz Wood spearheaded a well-balanced effort by logging a triple-double consisting of 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, sparking UMaine to a 68-54 America East victory over UMass Lowell at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
“To see that kind of contribution from different people was good,” said UMaine coach Richard Barron. “It wasn’t kind of the usual suspects and that’s when we’re best is when we’re kind of hard to scout.
“Our strength is in our versatility, which means that it’s not programmed. We’ve got to play loose like that,” Barron added.
The Black Bears (10-6, 2-1 AE) placed four players in double figures, including a team-high 14 points from sophomore Sigi Koizar and turned in another strong defensive performance against the River Hawks (7-9, 1-3 AE).
Juniors Mikaela Gustafsson (11 points) and Chantel Charles (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals) asserted themselves to provide UMaine with some key efforts.
“(Mikaela) made some great plays, finished around the basket, which we’ve been trying to get her to do,” Barron said. “Chance (Charles) was really good, especially at the free-throw line on the offensive end, and defensively she was terrific.”
Lauren Bodine also chipped in with eight points, including two 3-pointers, in only 10 minutes. Wood also provided six steals and two blocked shots for UMaine, which shot 41 percent overall and went 17-for-23 from the foul line.
“Mainly we hit her high post and she normally finds the person cutting, so that’s a play she can get a lot of assists off,” Charles said of Wood, who faced double-teams and had four assists on back-door cuts by Gustafsson.
“If I flash to the high post knowing that Mikaela’s going to make that I-cut, then I’m going to pass it to her quicker and she’s going to have a better opportunity to score,” Wood said.
The Black Bears were again stingy on defense and bottled up UMass Lowell utilizing mostly their 2-3 matchup zone. UMass Lowell, a second-year member of the conference, slipped to 7-9 and 1-3, respectively.
The Black Bears held the River Hawks to 36 percent shooting overall and took advantage of the visitors’ turnover woes by cashing in for 26 points as a result of those miscues.
UMass Lowell was sparked by a game-high 19 points from Shannon Samuels, while Lindsey Doucette posted eight points and 11 rebounds. The River Hawks outrebounded UMaine 40-30.
UMaine held UMass Lowell scoreless for a span of 7 ½ minutes once in each half. The second such effort enabled the hosts to extend build a comfortable lead.
The River Hawks opened the second half on a 5-0 run and cut the deficit to 36-31, but the Black Bears responded.
UMaine went on extended 10-0 run to take a 46-31 lead with 9:56 to play. Despite missing their first seven shots of the half, Koizar opened the run with three free throws.
Gustafsson ended the shooting woes with a reverse baseline layup off feed from Wood, who made a layup off her own steal. A foul shot by Wood and another close-range hoop by Gustafsson off a Wood pass put the Bears on top 46-31 with 9:56 left.
UMass Lowell couldn’t get closer than 14 points the rest of the way. The visitors shot 36 percent despite making seven 3-pointers.
“This past couple days we’ve been working a lot on our (2-3 matchup) zone defense and I think it showed today,” Wood said. “I think it paid off, just kind of fine-tuning some things and clarifying who takes what and focusing on sprinting to the ball.”
UMaine heads back on the road for Saturday’s 2 p.m. league game at Stony Brook on Long Island.
UMaine used a pair of late 3-pointers to take the momentum and a 36-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Koizar and Charles each connected from long range in the final 54 seconds to halt a 9-0 UMass Lowell run and re-establish the Bears’ advantage.
The hosts did a solid job defending out of their 2-3 matchup zone, but the River Hawks hit four 3-pointers and controlled the rebounding action (16-13) to hang around.
UMaine’s fluid defense caused a handful of UMass Lowell’s 12 turnovers, which led directly to 16 points by the Bears, who shot a healthy 46 percent and had only five turnovers.
UMaine made its move during a six-minute stretch, scoring 14 unanswered points to turn a five-point deficit into a double-digit lead.