A rivalry will be renewed Friday as Maine hosts UAlbany in the 2022 America East women’s basketball championship game.
The Black Bears and Great Danes – the top two seeds in the #AEPlayoffs – both advanced in the semifinals Tuesday night on their home courts. The regular-season champs improved to 12-1 in their last 13 postseason games with a win over NJIT while the Great Danes took care of Vermont to clinch their first title game berth since 2017.
The two teams will play for the championship and the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament Friday at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
Semifinals Recap
#1 Maine 72, #4 NJIT 48
- Maine got off to a 6-0 lead and built it to 9-2 early.
- Second-Team All-Conference choice Maeve Carroll scored six of the first 11 Black Bears points.
- NJIT cut the deficit to seven in the second quarter and shot 55 percent in the first 20 minutes.
- Carroll and Alba Orois had 10 points apiece at the break.
- The Black Bears never let the Highlanders get within six and eventually pulled away with Olivia Rockwood’s 9 points on three three-pointers providing the exclamation point.
- Orois finished with 20 points and seven assists while Carroll had 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
#2 UAlbany 67, #3 Vermont 54
- Leads were hard to come by early and Delaney Richason hit a three just before time expired in the first quarter to make the score 12-11, Vermont.
- UAlbany lost All-Defensive selection Lucia Decortes to injury just two minutes into the game.
- All-Conference selection Anna Olson was limited to seven first-half minutes with two fouls.
- The Great Danes led by five at the break as Freja Werth and Ellen Hahne knocked down key three-point shots.
- Helene Haegerstrand sunk a three on the last play of the third quarter to put the lead to double digits - a lead the Great Danes would maintain for good.
- The First-Team All-Conference forward finished with a game-high 18 points, making four of her five three-point attempts.
The Black Bears and Great Danes met in the semifinals last year and battled in consecutive championship games in 2016 and 2017. The two programs have combined to win 15 championships and each have gone on to win games in the NCAA Tournament. Maine’s nine titles are a conference record while UAlbany is the only team in league history to win six in a row.
Tickets for Friday's game can be obtained by contacting Maine's ticket office or visiting #AEPlayoffs Central.
All 2022 #AEPlayoffs action can be watched on ESPN networks. The quarter and semifinals will air on ESPN+ as part of The AE on ESPN with a simulcast for international viewers on AmericaEast.TV. The championship game will be nationally televised on ESPNU. All three rounds will also be available via the ESPN app.
Complete postseason information can be found at americaeast.com/wbbplayoffs.
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