VILLANOVA, Pa. — The University of Maine women’s basketball team (23-9) fell in its WNIT first round matchup at Villanova (20-13) by a score of 71-60 on Friday evening. Sigi Koizar led all scorers with 22 points, all of which coming in the second half.

It was a tale of two halves for the Black Bears as they were outscored 40-21 by the Wildcats in the first half but charged back in the second with a 39-31 advantage.

Maine went 23-for-52 from the floor, including a 15-for-22 (68.2 percent) mark in the second half. The Black Bears held the rebounding advantage, 33-26, led by Liz Wood’s 11 boards. Mikaela Gustafsson added 17 points, her sixth time posting double-figures in her last nine games, matching a career-high.

Four scorers finished in double-figures for the Wildcats, led by Alex Louin’s 17 after going 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

The Wildcats posted a 57.1 percent mark from the floor, hitting seven of their first nine from 3-point range, to build an early first half advantage.

Lauren Burford hit three-straight from behind the arc to help build an early 14-4 lead for the Wildcats over the opening five minutes.

Villanova kept charging, continuing its sharp-shooting first half as another 3-pointer and a quick layup extended its lead to 20 at the eight-minute mark.

Maine chipped into the Wildcat lead with a step-back three from Wood but the Wildcats answered with an 8-2 run, giving them their largest lead of the half at 38-15.

The Black Bears’ offense continued to fight as Wood worked her way inside for a layup. The bucket gave Wood 1,131 points for her career, surpassing Missy Traversi for 14th all-time at Maine. Shortly after, a 3-pointer from Christiana Gerostergiou chipped the advantage back down to 20.

Out of the half, Maine responded strong with a 6-2 start, cutting the lead down to 15 point advantage after a hard dribble drive bucket from Koizar. The Black Bears kept battling as Koizar scored a transition layup while drawing the foul. Koizar followed with a free throw make to shrink the lead down to 14.

Koizar continued to lead the comeback charge, hitting a jumper before Sophie Weckstrom’s transition bucket cut the lead all the way back down to 10, after once trailing by 23, with six minutes to play.

Villanova got hot again late from 3-point range, distancing itself once again from the Black Bears. Maine would not get any closer than its pervious 10 point second half deficit as the Black Bears fell, 71-60.

The Black Bears season comes to an end at 23-9 after capturing the America East Regular Season Title with a 14-2 league mark.