ORONO — The defensive effort put in by the University of Maine women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon in a 60-48 win over Vermont was outstanding, but the Black Bears say they can be even better.

“I think it was up there. I think it can only go up from here,” said Adrianna Smith, a junior forward. “We stuck with our game plan and that’s why we won.”

In front of 1,207 fans at the Pit, the Black Bears held Vermont, the defending America East champion, to 31.6% shooting from the floor and outrebounded the Catamounts, 41-32.

The Black Bears (9-7, 2-0 America East) stuck with a strong 2-3 zone defense, forcing the Catamounts (9-7, 1-1) to shoot from the perimeter. Offensively, Maine worked to attack the basket off pick and rolls and drives, scoring 38 points in the paint. The strong defense also helped the Black Bears score 16 points off turnovers and 11 fast-break points.

The Maine win snapped Vermont’s 18-game conference game winning streak, dating back to last January and including the conference tournament.

The defense was designed to prevent Vermont’s top two scorers, guard Emma Utterback and forward Anna Olson, from taking over the game offensively, said Maine Coach Amy Vachon. Utterback scored 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting. Averaging just under 17 3-point attempts per game entering Saturday, Vermont attempted 34 3s against the Black Bears, making 11.

“We went all in on the zone defense. They’re not used to shooting a lot of 3s. We didn’t want Utterback or Olson to go off and beat us. That was our game plan,” Vachon said. “We understood that’s what we were going to give up. I know people were like, ‘Why are they staying in zone? They’re hitting all these 3s.’ We knew the percentages would even out in the long run.”

Olson picked up her second foul just 2:47 into the game and did not play again in the first half. Averaging 11 points and just under six rebounds per game, Olson finished with seven points and five rebounds. Maine had a 22-12 rebounding advantage in the first half.

The Black Bears pulled away midway through the third quarter. With the score tied, 33-33, Maine went on a 14-0 run, punctuated by Anne Simon’s layup off a steal. After Vermont’s Keira Hanson hit a baseline 3-pointer to stop Maine’s run with 25 seconds left in the quarter, Sarah Talon’s putback at the buzzer off a Paula Gallego miss gave the Black Bears a 49-36 lead going into the fourth.

“Maine can shoot the 3 well, but I felt like we let them play 1-on-1 basketball, and that’s not what we do. When we do that, it’s to the advantage of the other team,” Vermont Coach Alisa Kresge said.

A Gallego basket with 5:57 left gave Maine its largest lead, 52-36. The Catamounts answered with a 9-0 run on three straight 3-pointers, cutting the deficit to 52-45 with 4:12 left, but that was as close as Vermont could get.

“Each team is going to go on a run, and that was their run,” said Simon, who led Maine with 20 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. “We talked about coming out strong in the second half, making sure we go on the run and punch first.”

Smith finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.

After shooting just 23.1% from the floor in the first quarter, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range, Maine worked at getting high-percentage shots. The Black Bears were 16 for 27 from the floor over the second and third quarters, including 9 for 15 in the third.

“These players are very good at understanding what they’re giving us. We felt like we could attack their two-man defense, how they were guarding that,” Vachon said.

Hanson scored 20 points off the bench to lead Vermont.

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