The University of Maine women’s basketball team returned three starters off last year’s 25-8 team which won its second consecutive America East championship to earn another NCAA Division I tournament berth.
On Sunday, senior guard Blanca Millan, senior forward Fanny Wadling and junior point guard Dor Saar showed they are ready to lead this team this season. All had impressive performances in a 78-56 exhibition victory over Stonehill College at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The athletic Skyhawks, an NCAA Division II tournament team a year ago, turned in a solid showing. They made the Black Bears work for their points and forced them to defend with intensity.
Millan, the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, poured in a game-high 32 points on 10-for-21 shooting from the floor including a 4-for-10 performance beyond the 3-point arc. She also provided four rebounds, three steals and two assists in 30-plus minutes of action.
Wadling contributed 14 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists in and Saar posted 13 points, a game-high six assists and four rebounds while turning the ball over just once.
“Blanca, Dor and Fanny did a lot of good things,” said UMaine coach Amy Vachon. “I thought some of the other kids did some nice things, too, although you won’t see it in the scoring column. Kira [Barra] had seven rebounds.
“We have to play better transition defense and we fouled too much,” Millan said. “But it was our first game and we were a little bit nervous and very excited. And when you’re excited, you want to do too much.”
She said the Black Bears clicked nicely on offense.
“We played together and everyone was looking for our best options,” Millan said.
UMaine shot 48.3 percent [28-for-58] from the floor.
Millan and Saar said they were impressed with Stonehill, which was without injured starting center Gabrielle Reuter.
“They’re aggressive and play at a high pace. It’s real good to play them,” Millan said.
Stonehill coach Trisha Brown said she thought UMaine might not be as good offensively as they were last year because all-conference guards Tanesha Sutton (14.2 points per game) and Parise Rossignol (11.4 ppg) graduated.
”They’re as good of an offensive team as I’ve seen. They were working on all cylinders, offensively. And their bigs will take you out to the perimeter. They have a lot of great scorers. I was hoping they weren’t as talented as last year but they certainly are.”
Kelly Fogarty produced 11 points off the bench. In addition to Barra’s seven rebounds in just 13:49, Maeve Carroll grabbed five rebounds in 15:33 before fouling out.
UMaine outrebounded Stonehill 36-27 and limited it to a 15-for-44 shooting performance from the floor (34.1 percent).
Black Bears freshman forward Abbe Laurence tallied four points and nine players received at least 12 minutes of playing time.
Isabella Santoro scored 17 points for the Skyhawks and also had three rebounds.
Kayla Raymond (8 rebounds), the Northeast 10 Rookie of the Year last season, and Morgan O’Brien each netted 12 points. Raymond got into foul trouble with three in the first half.
Bar Harbor native and former Mount Desert Island High School standout Kelsey Shaw contributed five points, two assists and two rebounds.
UMaine finished the first half on a 12-4 run to build a 37-24 halftime lead and Millan nailed a 3-pointer to start the second half before Wadling added a short jumper to swell the lead to 42-24.
The determined Skyhawks made a few runs but couldn’t get closer than 14 the rest of the way.