Akin Taylor
The UAlbany Great Danes womens basketball team fell short against conference rival Maine Black Bears 49-45 Tuesday night in a pivotal match for the American East Conference title.
UAlbany opened the game with a pair of defensive stops before Senior Forward Lucia Decortes scored the first basket of the game. The Danes were only able to hold that lead for 1:19 in first and it was their only lead of the game.
Both teams proved to be playing strong defense as they traded stops and steals before Maine scored with 2:21 remaining in the quarter. After the first quarter of game-play, Maine led UAlbany, 13-9.
In the second quarter, the Danes were outscored 10-7. Both teams shot an abysmal 3-14 and 4-12 from the field but the Black Bears shot 66% from the three-point line. Maine went on a 6-2 scoring run to outscore UAlbany, 10-7, in the second quarter. Decortes would close the quarter off with a layup to reduce the lead to single digits.
The Great Danes traded possessions with the Black Bears as they tried to cut into the Maine lead in the fourth. The Danes outscored Maine, 19-15, in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to get the win. Decortes led the Danes with 18 points and 8 rebounds followed by Helene Haegerstrand with 12 and 5.
Head Coach Colleen Mullen was frustrated by the team’s offensive play. “Offensively, we struggled to execute throughout the game and our turnovers really hurt us,” said Mulled Maine was able to speed us up and we were never able to settle in and get comfortable.”
The Danes will play their regular-season finale against Stony Brook on Saturday, February 26. They look to finish their regular season on a strong note against another conference rival.
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