ORONO, Maine – For the first time since 2019, Maine is the America East women’s basketball champion! The Black Bears never trailed on their way to a dominating 64-48 win in the championship game in front of a raucous sold out crowd at The Pit on Friday evening.
Maine (24-9) never trailed and grew its lead to as large as 22 en route to claiming its 10th league title in program history.
Two-time America East Player of the Year Anne Simon, who returned to the Black Bear program seeking her first #AEHoops title, had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists on her way to earning Most Outstanding Player honors. She averaged 17.7 points and 7.7 rebounds over Maine’s three wins to earn the tourney’s top honor.
Simon was joined on the All-Championship Team by teammate Adrianna Smith, Vermont’s Anna Olson and Emma Utterback and Binghamton’s Denai Bowman.
Maine’s Anna Kahelin, a grad student who earned her undergraduate degree in management with a 3.98 GPA, was the women’s basketball Elite 18 honoree for having the highest GPA among champion game participants.
Winners of five straight and 11 of its last 12 games, Maine will learn its postseason draw during the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
How it Happened
- Maine scored the first five points of the game on an Olivia Rockwood three-pointer and a layup by Smith.
- Smith added eight more points in the quarter as the Black Bears led 18-11 after one.
- Vermont scored the first four points of the second quarter and pulled within three on Utterback’s jumper with 6:27 left.
- But from there, the Black Bears scored 16 of the game’s next 26 points to take a 34-25 advantage into the locker room.
- Maine grew its lead in the third, using an 11-3 run midway through the frame to take a 47-30 advantage on Caroline Bornemann’s layup with 2:22 left.
- That lead expanded to 22 on Smith’s layup with 7:50 left in the game and the Black Bears held off Vermont to close it out.
Inside the Numbers
- Maine held Vermont to 37.5 percent shooting and just 1 of 9 from three. Conversely, Maine shot 45.0% from the floor and hit five threes.
- In addition to Simon, Smith led four Black Bears in double figures with 16 points and added eight boards.
- Sarah Talon added 12 points and Olivia Rockwood provided 10.
- Olson, a second-team All-Conference choice, scored a game-high 21 points for Vermont.
The History
- Maine’s 10th title is the most in league history.
- The Black Bears improved to 10-13 all-time in America East title games while Vermont fell to 4-4.
- Maine is the 26th top seed to win the America East Tournament.
- Amy Vachon is the fifth America East coach to win three championships joining a prestigious group of Joy Malchodi, Joanne Palombo-McCallie, Jen Rizzotti and Katie Abrahamson-Henderson.
ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -