WEST HARTFORD, Conn.--Eighth-seeded Albany defeated the nine seed Maine, 63-43, Thursday night at University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena in the first round of the 2009 America East Women's Basketball Championship. The Great Danes earned a victory for the third straight year in the tournament, and advanced to the quarterfinal round to play top-seeded Boston University at 2 p.m. Friday, March 13.
Albany guard Janea Aiken scored a game-high 18 points, breaking the program's season scoring record for a sophomore, while junior Charity Iromuanya netted a season-high 15 points and collected eight rebounds.
After the first twenty minutes which featured four ties and three lead changes, Albany led, 30-22, at the half. Aiken led all scorers at the half with 14, already above her season average of 12.9.
Albany used a 19-0 run early in second half to pull away from Maine in a rematch of a first round contest at the 2006 America East Championship. The Black Bears went without a point for nearly eight minutes before freshman guard Jasmine Rush nailed back-to-back threes to pull the Black Bears to within 49-30. However, the Great Danes held a lead no smaller than 17 for the rest of the way.
“We really wanted to get after them on the boards, and we did a great job on defensive rebounding,” said UAlbany coach Trina Patterson, whose team held an opponent under 50 points for the seventh time this season. “I think if you can play defense and rebound in any tournament game and get yourself some good shots, you are going to do well."
Albany outrebounded Maine, 40-31, and controlled 15 offensive rebounds for 14 second-chance points.
Maine junior Amanda Tewksbury scored nine of her team-high 11 points in the first half on fifty-percent shooting. Senior Colleen Kilmurray finished her collegiate career at Maine with nine points and five rebounds with a 4-for-10 effort from the field.
Maine uncharacteristically shot forty percent from the free-throw line, including a 1-for-8 performance in the second half. The Black Bears were third in the conference at the charity stripe going into the tournament with a 71.9 percent clip.
The 2009 America East Women's Basketball Championship continues on Friday with the first quarterfinal game between fourth-seeded Binghamton and fifth-seeded Albany at 12 p.m. All of Friday's quarterfinal action will be streamed live at the America East Zone on www.AmericaEast.com.