ORONO, Maine – Anne Simon scored a game-high 24 points and Adrianna Smith added 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, powering Maine (16-13) to a 64-54 win over Binghamton (13-17) in an America East quarterfinal game on Wednesday night at Memorial Gym. The contest concludes the season for the Bearcats, which ended with back-to-back games at Maine.
Simon went 7-for-16 from the field but from three-point range, she was 4-of-8. In addition, Simon was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. She also finished the game with nine rebounds.
Smith, meanwhile, recorded her seconds straight double-double in as many games against the Bearcats. She also dished out five assists.
For Binghamton, senior guard
Denai Bowman and sophomore forward
Genevieve Coleman tied for the team lead with 16 points. Redshirt freshman guard
Jadyn Weltz scored 14 points.
Bowman, who was 7-for-12 from the field and recorded a team-high three steals, concluded her illustrious career with 1,214 points, which ranks No. 11 all-time in Binghamton program history. In addition, she averaged 11.6 points per game during her career, which ranks No. 15 all time in school history.
Coleman, who also grabbed six rebounds, went 7-for-16 from the field. Weltz, meanwhile, was 7-of-11 from the field, dished out three assists and grabbed five rebounds.
In a game that featured two ties and 15 lead changes, Binghamton went on a 7-2 run in the first 1:32 of the third period to take a 31-27 lead. Coleman had five of her points during that stretch.
From there, the lead see-sawed back and forth and the Bearcats went up 41-40 with 2:10 remaining in the third period on a pair of made free throws by Bowman. The Black Bears, however, got back-to-back three-point field goals by Simon and Olivia Rockwood to take a 46-41 lead heading into the fourth period.
Binghamton pulled to within 50-47 on a layup by Weltz with 7:39 left in regulation. Maine, however, responded with a 7-0 run over the ensuing 1:57 to go up 57-47 with 5:42 remaining.
The Black Bears then iced the game by going 7-for-8 from the free throw line during the final two minutes of play.
"We are disappointed that we didn't advance but Maine is a very good team," head coach
Bethann Shapiro Ord said. "I thought we did a good job tonight but that's a team that will go far."
Also playing in her final collegiate game for Binghamton was senior forward
Clare Traeger, who finished with a team-best eight rebounds. She entered Wednesday's game ranked second in the America East with 8.8 rebounds per game.
Rockwood finished with 11 points in the winning effort.
Binghamton shot 42 percent for the game (24-56) to 37 percent for Maine (20-54). The Black Bears, however, drained nine three-point field goals and went 15-for-16 from the free throw line (93.9 percent).
Graduating with Bowman and Traeger this coming spring are fellow Binghamton seniors
Khoryn Bannis,
Cassidy Roberts and
Zahra Barnes.