The Black Bears’ 21-game winning streak comes to a screeching halt in the America East finals.
By Sun Journal staff

Since sustaining its last women’s basketball loss on Dec. 29, Maine was sensational but streaky.

On Saturday afternoon, that second, oft-valuable character quality came back to bite the Black Bears.

Maine never fully recovered from two separate but equally dreadful stretches in the first half against Boston University, eventually falling 69-65 in the America East championship game at Chase Family Arena in West Hartford, Conn.

The loss ended a 21-game winning streak and likely cost Maine (25-5) its first NCAA Tournament berth since the 1999-2000 season. After losing the league title game for the third time in six years, Maine’s strength of schedule is unlikely to merit an at-large invitation to the field of 64.

BU (16-14) advances to the tournament for the first time in the 29-year history of its women’s basketball program. The Terriers won back-to-back championships in the old Seaboard Conference in 1988-89, when the league’s champion did not receive an automatic NCAA bid.

Junior guard Katie Terhune scored 14 of her team-high 18 points in the first half for BU, staking the Terriers to an early double-digit lead that held up in the face of multiple Maine rallies in the closing stages.

“They were just shadowing me all over the court,” said Terhune. “My teammates stepped it up.”

Four more Terriers reached double figures, including freshman Katie Meinhardt, who nailed a huge 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining and drained three of her 14 points from the free-throw line in the final 31 seconds. Adrienne Norris added 11 points, while senior point guard Alison Argentieri and sophomore low-post presence Larissa Parr chipped in 10 apiece for BU.

Heather Ernest concluded her superb junior campaign with her 14th double-double of the season and the 37th of her career. Ernest finished with 23 points and her highest rebounding output of the winter at 16.

Although Monica Peterson pulled down 17 rebounds for Maine, BU held her to only eight points on 2-for-11 shooting. Melissa Heon had 15 points, but the Black Bears’ premier perimethreat went 5-for-16 overall and an icy 1-for-8 from 3-point range.

BU held Maine to 31.8 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers. The Terriers became the first women’s team to knock off the top two seeds and win the America East tourney after eliminating No. 2 Vermont in Friday night’s second semifinal.

“We had to fight all year long through injuries and ups and downs,” said BU coach Margaret McKeon. “(My players) never quit on me. This is lovely for them.”

In the final, the Terriers avoided the late collapse that spoiled their second regular-season confrontation with the Black Bears.

Two weeks ago, BU exploded for a 39-24 halftime lead in Orono.

The Terriers employed the same aggressive approach in the paint and from the perimeter on the neutral court at the University of Hartford, commencing the first half with a 14-2 surge and closing it with an 18-6 kick to take a 34-20 advantage into the locker room.

“When we played up there, we played scared,” Terhune said. “Today we matched their scoring. Heather is a great player. She kept them in the game, but we were able to (shut down) everyone else.”

Ernest played nearly the final five minutes with four fouls. Despite that handicap, her offensive rebounding was the centerpiece of a spurt that sliced BU’s lead from 60-50 to 60-57 with 2:35 to go.

Julie Veilleux scored on a put-back. Following a steal by Heon, Ernest sank two free throws. Then after a BU shot clock violation, Ernest’s intelligent tip rebound to Kim Corbitt put Missy Traversi in position for her third 3-pointer of the half.

Marisa Moseley missed but grabbed her own rebound on the Terriers’ ensuing possession.

That gave BU a fresh shot clock, and it used nearly the full allotment of time before Parr found Meinhardt for her fateful trey. That put Maine in a must-foul mode, and BU, firmly in the double-bonus, knocked down six of its next eight from the stripe.

Two Meinhardt free throws made it 69-59 with 25 seconds left.

Ernest scored inside, Veilleux made two free throws and Corbitt canned a runner after that, but Maine ran out of time.

BU also used the shot clock masterfully in the first half, preventing the Black Bears from imposing their preferred frenetic pace and hitting a flurry of contested jumpers inside the buzzer, to boot.

Maine missed 10 of its first 11 shots as it stumbled into a double-digit deficit in the first eight minutes.

Meanwhile, Parr posted up for a pair of hoops and Norris muscled in another as the Terriers scratched out a 6-0 lead.

Heon briefly thawed Maine’s cold snap with a jumper from the right baseline, but her perimeter struggles otherwise continued. Heon missed six of nine tries prior to intermission.

Parr’s third hoop of the half ignited another run of eight straight points.

Terhune kept BU burning by swishing her first 3-pointer of the game with the shot clock at two, and she fed Argentieri for another trifecta and a 12-point cushion with 13:18 to go.

Two additional misses by Heon and Traversi continued Maine’s offensive free fall, but Heon’s steal and transition lay-up offered proof of life.

Ernest emerged with a short jumper in the paint and fed Peterson for an inside deuce to spark a 12-2 run for the Black Bears.

Heon’s next hoop made it a 16-14 margin, but BU scored the next eight points and held Maine without a field goal for more than eight minutes.