WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The season ended Thursday night for the University of Maine women’s basketball team with a first-round loss in the America East Conference tournament.

Eighth-seeded Stony Brook built a 24-point lead in the first 23 1/2 minutes and cruised to a 76-55 victory over the ninth-seeded Black Bears at Chase Arena.

The Seawolves (7-22) advanced to the quarterfinals today and will face top-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County (19-10).

Maine (4-25) started with a quick 7-2 run featuring a 3-pointer by Ashleigh Roberts, forcing the Seawolves to call a timeout 3:17 in. Stony Brook increased its defensive pressure and went on an 18-4 run fueled by five Maine turnovers and the inside work of Juanita Cochran, Kirsten Jeter and Talisha Bridges.

“Coach (Evelyn Thompson) told us to relax (in the timeout),” said Jeter, who had 26 points by going 10 of 16 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. “We came out so ready to go and overly tight, so we had to relax a little bit.”

The Black Bears regained their composure and began hitting the defensive boards, and when Brittany Williams, Katelyn Vanderhoff and Tanna Ross hit successive 3-pointers, Maine was within 31-26 with 2:02 left in the half.

The Seawolves went to a pressing defense and closed the half on a 10-0 run for a 41-26 lead.

The Black Bears had 14 turnovers and were outrebounded 24-11 in the first half while shooting 40.9 percent (9 of 22) to 50 percent for Stony Brook (18 of 36).

The Seawolves continued their run by scoring the first nine points of the second half, sparked by Jeter’s two baskets and Sam Landers’ 3-pointer. Williams finally halted the 19-0 run with a 3-pointer at 4:28.

“We have to be consistent with the ball and take care of it,” said Williams, who led Maine with 13 points. “They’re going to score off our turnovers and that’s what kind of tore us down.

“We worked in practice on defense and trying to double-team Jeter, but she’s a real scorer.”

Stony Brook, second in the conference in scoring offense at 59.7 points per game, kept attacking well into the second half and built the lead to 75-42 on reserve Dana Klupenger’s third consecutive 3-pointer with 5:20 left.

After the Seawolves’ run to open the second half, the Black Bears never got closer than the final score, losing for the 13th time in their last 14 games. Maine played Stony Brook tough in two regular-season games, losing by three and four points.

“We obviously didn’t play as well as we would have liked, and the result speaks for itself,” Maine Coach Cindy Blodgett said.

“I thought most of our turnovers occurred once we crossed halfcourt, which is something that hadn’t happened previously. In our other two games against them, they pressed full court and I thought we did a decent job of breaking the press.

“For whatever reason, we tended to turn the ball (Thursday night) once we crossed half- court and got into our halfcourt set. Many of those turnovers resulted in transition points for them.”

Maine totaled 22 turnovers, five more than Stony Brook, and was outrebounded, 47-35.

“I thought we had been making very good strides for the last three or four games of the regular season, but you can’t give up 41 points and 35 points in a half and expect to win,” Blodgett said.

 

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