ORONO, Maine – Adrianna Smith turned in a 31-point, 19-rebound performance, powering Maine (15-13, 11-5 AE) to a 69-65 win over Binghamton (13-16, 6-10 AE) in an America East women's basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gym. The Bearcats will now carry the No. 6 seed into the upcoming America East Tournament and will play again at Maine (who is the No. 3 seed) in a first-round America East Tournament game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Smith shot 11-for-20 from the field during the game and was 9-of-11 from the free throw line. She also finished with three assists and a pair of steals and recorded her 16th double-double of the season.

Joining Smith in double figures for the Black Bears was Anne Simon, who scored 18 points. She also dished out a game-high five assists and recorded a pair of steals.

At the other end of the court, redshirt freshman guard Jadyn Weltz scored a career-high 23 points for the Bearcats and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds. She shot 6-of-12 from the field, was 3-of-6 from three-point range and made eight of her 10 free throw attempts.

Senior guard Denai Bowman added 17 points to go along with three assists. For her career, Bowman now has 1,198 points and moves into 11th place all time in program history. Against the Black Bears, she surpassed Laine Kurpniece, who scored 1,188 points from 2004-08.

Also reaching double figures for Binghamton was sophomore forward Genevieve Coleman, who had 13 points to go along with five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Nursing a 29-27 lead at the half, the Black Bears opened the third period strong and built a 51-39 lead with 2:39 left to go. Maine shot a blistering 11-for-18 from the field during the third period (78.6 percent) and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range during that stretch.

Binghamton clawed all the way back in the fourth period and tied the game at 59-59 with 2:52 remaining in regulation. Weltz hit the game-tying shot on a three-point field goal, which punctuated a 12-4 Bearcat run over a stretch of seven minutes.

Maine finally got the separation it needed on a go-ahead three-point field goal by Caroline Bornemann with 1:54 left to go. The Bearcats didn't score on their next possession and Smith was fouled with 59 seconds remaining. She canned both of her free throws, giving the Black Bears a 64-59 lead.

Weltz was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 54 seconds. Simon and Smith, however, combined to go 5-for-6 from the line during that same stretch to lock up the win.

"Our group really battled today," head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord said. "It was a hard-fought game but it was a tough ending. The third quarter was rough for us but in the fourth quarter, I thought we were really locked in on defense. But having Smith score 31 points on us and getting 19 rebounds was tough."

Senior forward Clare Traeger grabbed 10 rebounds and tallied three assists.

Maine finished with a 41-34 advantage in rebounding as well as a 32-28 edge in points in the paint.

The Bearcats finished with 14 assists as opposed to just 12 turnovers.

Binghamton and Maine square off for the third time in America East Tournament history, with both prior games taking place in the quarterfinal round. The Black Bears won 78-71 in 2015 and 57-40 in 2017. Both times, the Black Bears were the higher seed.

NOTES: Bowman heads into the America East Tournament ranked fifth in the conference with 12.9 points per game. Traeger is second in rebounding (8.8 rpg.) while Weltz is first in steals (2.6 spg.) and second in assists (4.2 apg.).