ORONO, Maine – Adrianna Smith scored a game-high 26 points and Anne Simon finished with 25 points, powering top-seeded Maine (23-9) to a 64-58 win over fifth-seeded Binghamton (14-17) in an America East semifinal game on Monday night at Memorial Gymnasium. The Black Bears rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final period to punch their ticket to Friday's title game against third-seeded Vermont.

Seeking their first-ever trip to the America East finals, the Bearcats went toe-to-toe against the regular-season conference champions for the third time this season. All three of their games against the Black Bears this year were decided by single digits.

Redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz scored a team-high and career-best 25 points. She went 8-for-10 from the field, 5-for-7 from three-point range and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Weltz also added four rebounds, four assists and a steal. In two America East Tournament games this week, she averaged 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

The 25 points by Weltz marks the fourth-best scoring performance by a Binghamton player ever in an America East Tournament game. It is also the highest-scoring effort since Laura Sario tied the program-high with 26 points against Boston University in the 2007 quarterfinals.

In addition, Weltz's nine assists in the two games is the most recorded by a Binghamton player during a single America East Tournament. The previous mark of eight assists was set by Shea Kenny in 2007.

Graduate student Denai Bowman added 13 points, going 6-of-10 from the field. In the process, she finished the America East Tournament averaging 18.5 points per game. For her career, she now has 1,529 points, which continues to rank fifth all-time in Binghamton program history.

The 18.5 points per game averaged by Bowman is the third-best America East Tournament average turned in by a Binghamton player (with a minimum of two games played). Only Sario (19.5 ppg. In 2007) and Rachel Laws (19.0 ppg. in 2006) rank higher.

In the end, however, the combination of Simon and Smith proved to be the difference. Both of them were first-team all-conference selections this year. In addition, Simon was named the America East Player of the Year, an honor Smith earned last season.

Simon was 8-of-18 from the field, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, dished out three assists and recorded a game-high four steals. Smith, meanwhile, was 11-of-26 from the field and had a game-high eight assists to go along with seven rebounds and three steals.

Nursing a 28-27 lead early in the third period, Binghamton went on an 11-2 run to go up 39-29 with 4:32 remaining in the quarter. Weltz had five of her points and Bowman added four points during that stretch.

Maine closed to within 45-40 at the end of the third period but Bowman opened the fourth period with a three-point play with 8:39 left in regulation. The Bearcats' lead was again at eight points when Weltz drained a three pointer with 7:33 left, making the score 51-43.

The turning point of the game, however, came over the ensuing 3:52 as the Black Bears went on a 12-0 run to go up 55-51 with 3:41 left to go. Smith led the Black Bear attack with six points during that blitz.

Binghamton got to within 58-55 on Weltz's final three-point field goal of the game with 10 seconds remaining. Simon, however, sealed the win by going 3-of-4 from the free throw line the rest of way.

Binghamton shot 51.1 percent for the game, going 23-of-45 from the field in the process. That matches its highest field goal percentage in an America East Tournament game, having also gone 23-of-45 against Vermont in the 2003 quarterfinals.

The Bearcats only went to the line seven times – but made all of their attempts. It marked the seventh time during its 23-year NCAA Division I history that Binghamton has been perfect from the free throw line. The last time that happened came when the Bearcats were 8-of-8 at Eastern Michigan on Dec, 10, 2021.

Turnovers, however, plagued the Bearcats as they committed 21 miscues against the Black Bears. Maine turned those mistakes in 31 points. In addition, Maine had 16 offensive rebounds and turned those into 12 second-chance points.

"We were playing so well tonight," head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord said. "We were doing a good job of attacking them. We matched Maine in the paint (in scoring) but the thing that killed us was the second-chance opportunities. Maine scored 12 second-chance points and we just were not getting the rebounds we needed. You can't give a team like them as many offensive rebounds."

Junior forward Genevieve Coleman chipped in eight points while sophomore forward Camryn Fauria grabbed a team-best six rebounds.

Olivia Rockwell added 10 points in the winning effort for the Black Bears.

Binghamton is still in consideration for a possible national post-season berth