Maine Repeats as #AEHoops Champion, Earns Conference's NCAA Berth
Bangor, Maine – Behind a 68-48 win on Friday evening, the Maine Black Bears won their second consecutive America East women’s basketball title and will return to the NCAA Tournament. In front of over thirty-two thousand people at the Cross Insurance Center, No. 1 Maine (25-7) took down No. 2 Hartford behind 42.4 percent shooting.
Maine earned a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina for a title with No. 3 seed NC State on Saturday, March 23 at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.
Four Black Bears finished in double figures, led by junior Blanca Millan who scored a game-high 19 points. Millan secured eight rebounds and led all players with four steals en route to being named Most Outstanding Player. She is the first Black Bear to win the award twice consecutively since America East's all-time leading scorer Cindy Blodgett did so four times in the late 1990s.
Maine seniors Parise Rossignol (15) and Tanesha Sutton (12) also scored in double figures along with junior Fanny Wadling, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Black Bears began the game on a 10-0 run and led 18-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Hawks cut the defecit to six at halftime, closing the second quarter on an 11-2 run.
Hartford could not slow down Maine’s offense in the second half and was forced to release its full-court press. Although the Hawks went 6-for-15 from three-point range, the Black Bears won the rebounding battle 41-27.
It was the ninth women's basketball championship for the University of Maine, increasing their conference-best mark.
On the heels of becoming the first student-athlete since UAlbany’s Shereesha Richards to be named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, Millan became the first to be named Most Outstanding Player in back-to-back seasons since Richards did so in 2015 and 2016.
Joining the MOP on the All-Tournament Team were Millan’s teammates Sutton, and Dor Saar, the latter of which handed out a game-high seven assists in the title game.
Hartford’s Sierra DaCosta, who scored 18 points Friday and averaged 19.0 per game in the playoffs was also named to the team.
Stony Brook sophomore India Pagan earned All-Tournament honors after averaging 18.5 points on 72 percent shooting in the postseason.
Wadling earned the conference’s Elite 18 award, which recognizes the student-athlete competing in the championship game for both high academic and athletic achievements. The Maine junior holds a 3.89 GPA in exercise science.
3,234 fans attended the championship game a year removed from the Cross Insurance Center hosting the most people for an America East women's basketball championship game in 20 years.
Friday marked the eighth-straight year that the host team won the America East Championship. It was also the sixth time in seven years that the regular season champion repeated as the tournament champion.
Visit #AEPlayoffs Central for box scores, highlights and more from the entire championship.
About America East: The America East provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field.
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