BANGOR — Somehow, after 44 minutes of exhausting end-to-end play, after scoring 22 points and after having her elbow bandaged, Sigi Koizar still had the energy to carry a friend’s toddler during the postgame victory dance Sunday.

Which was fitting.

She carried Maine through an ugly stretch of play and into the win column.

Koizar’s inspired play helped the Black Bears overcome turnovers, poor rebounding and errant free-throw shooting and outlast Long Island-Brooklyn 65-59 in overtime before an announced crowd of 1,538 at the Cross Insurance Center.

“One of the things I do well is take the ball to the hoop and find open players,” the sophomore guard said after setting career highs in points (22), free throws (10) and minutes (44). She added four rebounds and four assists and tied a career high with three steals.

“She can attack the basket,” Maine Coach Richard Barron said of his need to keep Koizar on the floor. “We needed somebody who was going to score. For whatever reason, we have not settled into our offense. We are dribble-happy on our offense right now.”

Maine (1-1) committed 33 turnovers, allowed LIU to grab 25 offensive rebounds and made only 26 of 39 free throws (67 percent). But the Black Bears got a key stop late in regulation to force overtime, and harassed the Blackbirds (0-1) into 1-of-6 shooting with no offensive rebounds in the extra session.

“It was ugly from start to finish. But to be honest with you, that’s how we want to play,” LIU Coach Gail Striegler said. “We want it to be ugly and we want to get up and down the court.”

The Blackbirds committed 36 turnovers and turned their 25 offensive rebounds into only 11 points, shooting just 20 for 64 (31 percent) from the floor.

But a sequence late in regulation showed how determined the visitors were to avenge a 16-point home loss to Maine last year. Trailing 52-49 with 2:40 left, LIU got 10 shots, helped by nine offensive rebounds, the last of which was converted by Jolanna Ford to tie the score. The sequence included two timeouts and a technical foul on Maine’s Liz Wood when she was called for traveling after an apparent stolen pass. LIU guard Brianna Farris made only one of the two foul shots.

Farris had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but Maine contested her baseline drive and the shot fell off the rim.

In overtime, the Black Bears got a layup from Koizar and then made nine free throws to earn the victory. Koizar stole a pass with 42 seconds remaining to end one LIU possession and saved another ball from going out of bounds, feeding it ahead to Sophie Weckstrom, who was fouled and made both of her free throws. Weckstrom was 6 for 6 from the line and scored 13 points in 32 minutes off the bench.

“Honestly, if I think too much, that’s when I don’t make my shots,” Weckstrom said when asked what was going through her mind before her pivotal free throws. “I just had to be calm, step up and make them.”

Said Barron: “She kind of looked like the steady one out there. I thought she was doing a really good job defensively, she’s one of our better on-ball defenders. And obviously she’s a clutch free-throw shooter.”

Liz Wood added 14 points and six steals for Maine, which was challenged severely by Barron after a 65-52 loss at Bryant on Friday.

“I told them I was going to be a mean, ugly coach today, and so I was. I was all over them,” Barron said. “But we’ve got to get tougher.”

Koizar obviously got the message. During one timeout in the second half, she retreated to the locker room to get a bandage on her bloody elbow. Courtney Anderson was inserted in her place, but Koizar raced back to the court just before play resumed as the crowd applauded.

There was to be no stopping Koizar on this day. She was the main reason Maine was able to dance.

“There were a lot of moments where something bad happened and we could have just shut down,” Wood said. “And then we took it into our own hands in overtime.”