THE BASICS:
 
RESULT: Maine 73, Hartford 62
RECORDS: Hartford (12-5, 3-1 AE); Maine (10-10, 3-2 AE)
LOCATION: Cross Insurance Center (Bangor, Maine)

THE LEAD:
The University of Hartford women's basketball team suffered its first loss of America East action on Monday, falling at Maine, 73-62. Freshman Sierra DaCosta led the offense for the second time in three games with 19 points while senior Deanna Mayza and sophomore Lindsey Abed each added 12 in the defeat, which snapped a five-game win streak for the Hawks.

Blanca Millan made 9-of-12 from the field for a game-best 23 points as Maine shot 50.9 percent on the afternoon. Trailing 29-24 at the break, Hartford managed to trim a double-digit deficit down to two points midway through the third quarter, but was never able to get over the hump.

FIRST HALF:
Maine capitalized on a slow start by Hartford, scoring the first six points of the game. Four minutes in, DaCosta got the Hawks going by converting on an old-fashioned three-point play before hitting a long two to make it an 8-5 Hartford deficit. But a pair of long-range makes from Julie Brosseau and Millan extended the Black Bears' advantage to 14-5 with 4:24 to go, before back-and-forth scoring resulted in an 18-11 Maine lead at the end of the first.

Maine extended its advantage to 10 points at 22-12 in the opening minutes of the second with a 4-1 spurt, but the Hawks started to claw back. A 6-0 run fueled by four points from DaCosta and an Abed fast break bucket brought that double-digit deficit down to four at 22-18 with 3:34 to go in the half. The two sides traded three buckets apiece to end the second with Maine taking a 29-25 edge into the intermission.
 
SECOND HALF:
Spotting Maine a quick two to open the stanza, the Hawks quickly cut their deficit in half, using another DaCosta three-point play to come within three. With 6:25 left, back-to-back scores from junior Janelle Harrison and Mayza made it a two-point game at 36-34, but that rally would be spoiled by a stretch of hot shooting from three-point land. An 11-3 run featuring three triples from Brosseau, Millan and Naira Caceres pushed Maine's lead back into double figures at 49-39 with 3:36 to go in the quarter. The Black Bears went on to go up by 11 (53-42), but that deficit was cut to nine at 56-47 by the end of the period thanks to a combined 5-for-7 effort from the line by Mayza, Harrison and DaCosta.

After converting on 61.1 percent of their shots in the third, a 50 percent effort from the field in the fourth allowed the Black Bears to pull away with for the win. Maine made 5-of-10 from the floor during the final stretch, adding a 6-for-6 performance from the charity stripe to maintain its double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game. Six-straight points in less than a minute from the Hawks trimmed their 73-56 deficit down to 11, but with just 42.8 seconds remaining, it was too little, too late.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Matching her career high in scoring with 19 points, DaCosta, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, extended her double-figure scoring streak to 13 games.
• The Hawks shot just 29.0 percent (9-of-31) in the opening half to Maine's 44.4 percent (12-of-27).
• Maine continued it shot shooting for the remainder of the contest, finishing 50.9 percent from the field (28-of-55) with seven three-pointers.
• Hartford continued its trend of forcing turnovers on the defensive end as the Black Bears committed 19. The Hawks limited turnovers with eight, tying a season-best effort.
• Maine held a 45-24 advantage on the boards, led by Tanesha Sutton's nine.

NEWS & NOTES:

• The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for Hartford, the team's longest rally since 2013-14. That season, the Hawks won five-straight from Jan. 20 – Feb. 2.
• With its third-straight win in the series, Maine improves to 51-44 all-time against Hartford.
• Prior to the defeat, Hartford was 7-1 in games away from West Hartford.

 
UP NEXT:
Hartford returns home to host Stony Brook on Thursday, Jan. 19, with tipoff from Reich Family Pavilion slated for 7 p.m. Tickets for the America East clash are still available, and can be purchased by calling the Malcolm and Brenda Berman Athletics Ticket Office (860.768.HAWK) or online at www.HartfordHawks.com.