PORTLAND – There may still be a little angst remaining, but the University on Maine’s women’s basketball team released plenty of frustration Saturday.

After dropping its second conference game in three years in a loss at New Hampshire Tuesday, the Black Bears took its disappointment out on the Albany Great Danes at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Maine’s focus on a better defensive game stymied Albany early, and the Black Bears cruised to a 57-42 win.

“That was a tough loss for us,” said senior guard Missy Traversi. “New Hampshire played very well. We’re still mad. We still are. We came out today and showed how mad we were and got after it. We played UMaine basketball.”

Albany (6-7) had nearly as many turnovers (12) as points (14) in the first half. The Great Danes shot just 30 percent from the floor. Their top scorer, center Danielle Hutcheson, was held scoreless. Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa drew the stopper role on Albany’s top threat.

“Danielle is amazing,” said UMaine coach Sharon Versyp. “She’s an incredible shooter. She’s a unanimous all-conference player. Huggy got very physical and played with confidence and gets it done. She pushed her well away from the basket. When she set the tone that way, our others players did a great job.”

Though the Black Bears (7-7) offense started slow, its defense bought it time. Versyp wanted the Black Bears to get out early, as opposed to falling behind as Maine did against UNH.

“We let each other down,” said Versyp of the UNH loss. “Our motto is play hard, play together and play smart. We played hard only 15 minutes out of 40 minutes. We didn’t play together whatsoever, and we didn’t play smart by any means.

“I felt we came back and played great defense today. So I thought we responded extremely well.”

Traversi helped provide the offense early. She had 13 points in the first half and outscored Albany 12-2 on her own at one point. Versyp says it was one of Traversi’s best all-around games. She finished with 16 points, six assists and just one turnover.

“I was more proud of her defense than her offense,” said Versyp. “I thought we’ve been struggling defensively recently. She really committed to playing defense and did a phenomenal job on (Jen Schumacher). She was a sparkplug. She was able to penetrate and make nice passes. That’s what we look for her to do.”

Bracey Barker added 12 points for UMaine while Kim Corbitt and Monica Peterson each had 10.

Hutcheson finished with 14 for Albany while Schumacher had 11. Forward Lyndsay Clark, the former Dirigo standout, remained out of the lineup for the Great Danes with an injury.

“We didn’t put two halves together,” said Albany coach Trina Patterson. “UMaine beat us by one point in the second half. If we came out in the first half with the intensity we had in the second half, it would have been a very close match.”

Albany was down just 9-6 when Traversi hit a 3-pointer. She followed with a jumper for a 14-6 advantage. After an Albany basket, Traversi had another 3 in between four free throws, pushing the lead to double digits.

The lead was up to 14 at the half. A 7-2 surge to start the second half had the Great Danes within nine, but baskets by Kim Corbitt and Peterson ended that run. A pair of baskets by Peterson six minutes into the half put the lead back to 20.