KINGSTON, R.I. — Anne Simon scored 10 of her 16 points in the first quarter to start Maine on its way to a 61-47 win over Rhode Island in a women’s basketball game Friday.
It was the 800th win in the history of the program.
Dor Saar added 14 points, making 4 of 8 3-pointers, and Blanca Millan and Abbe Laurence also reached double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Black Bears (2-0) took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Saar midway through the first quarter. Maine led 18-13 after one quarter and 30-22 at halftime, then stretched its margin to 48-31 after three quarters.
Emmanuelle Tahane was the only player in double figures for Rhode Island (0-4), finishing with 11 points.
Maine is next scheduled to play at Northeastern on Dec. 20.
MEN’S HOCKEY
MAINE 1, NEW HAMPSHIRE 1: Defenseman Simon Butala scored the deciding goal in a shootout to give Maine a second point in the Hockey East standings after the Black Bears and Wildcats played to a tie in a mutual season opener in Durham, New Hampshire.
Freshman Lynden Breen got the tying goal for Maine with 6:46 remaining in regulation, just 32 seconds after New Hampshire defenseman Kalle Eriksson broke a scoreless deadlock.
Matthew Thiessen made 37 saves in his first start for the Black Bears.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
MAINE 2, NEW HAMPSHIRE 1: Ida Press scored the tiebreaking goal on a power-play early in the second period, and the Black Bears (2-1, 2-1 Hockey East) won their first game after a three-week break, beating the Wildcats (1-4, 0-3) in Durham, New Hampshire.
Liga Miljone put the Black Bears ahead just 1:09 into the game, converting the rebound of a shot by Amalie Andersen.
Jada Christian tied it for UNH at 9:34, but Press got the winner at 4:10 of the second period with a shot from the left circle.
Maine goalie Loryn Porter made 21 saves, including 11 in the third period.
The teams play again at 1 p.m. Saturday.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(5) KANSAS 95, OMAHA 50: Ochai Agbaji scored 18 points to help the Jayhawks (6-1) beat the Mavericks (2-5) in Lawrence, Kansas.
(8) CREIGHTON 98, NEBRASKA 74: Marcus Zegarowski scored 22 points, Denzel Mahoney had 20, and the Blue Jays (4-1) used a big run in the second half to pull away from the Cornhuskers (3-3) in Omaha, Nebraska.
(9) VILLANOVA 76, GEORGETOWN 63: Collin Gillespie and Caleb Daniels each hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points to lead the Wildcats (5-1) past the Hoyas (2-3) in the Big East opener for both teams, at Washington.
(11) WEST VIRGINIA 62, NORTH TEXAS 50: Sean McNeil scored 15 points, and the Mountaineers (5-1) rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to beat North Texas (1-3) in Morgantown, West Virginia.
FOOTBALL
PITTSBURGH: The Panthers removed themselves from bowl consideration, a day after finishing the regular season at 6-5 following a 34-20 victory over Georgia Tech.
The school became the second member of the Atlantic Coast Conference to opt out of the postseason, joining Boston College, which announced its decision Thursday.
UTAH STATE: The Aggies canceled their game against Colorado State amid concerns voiced about religious discrimination during the search for a new coach.
Players issued a statement on Friday, saying they were opting out of Saturday’s game because of alleged comments made by University President Noelle Cockett about the religious and cultural background of interim coach Frank Maile.
Cockett’s comments were reportedly made during a video call Tuesday with Athletic Director John Hartwell and the Utah State University Leadership Council to discuss Maile’s candidacy for the permanent head coaching job.
Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson resigned Thursday to take the Utah State job.
“We want our message to be clear that this has nothing to do with the hiring of Coach Blake Anderson, the recently-named head coach of the program,” the players said in their statement. “We are sure he is an excellent coach; we look forward to meeting him and his staff. We are highlighting the ongoing problems of inequality and want to create a better future for the community of Logan and Utah State University.”
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