Maine hands Bryant first loss of season

SMITHFIELD – The Bryant University women's basketball team was defeated by Maine, 74-57, Tuesday night at home.

Sydney Holloway (Morgantown, W. Va.) led Bryant with 16 points. Two other Bulldogs scored in double-digits as junior Stephanie Lesko (Rumson, N.J.) scored a career-high of 13 points and Kierra Palmer (Aberdeen, Md.) added 11.

GAME INFORMATION
Maine 74, Bryant 57
Records: Bryant 2-1, Maine 2-0
Location: Chace Athletic Center (Smithfield, R.I)
Attendance: 429

COACH BURKE'S COMMENTS

"Obviously I'm a little disappointed. Maine is a very good team and they have a lot of weapons, so we had to put our very best foot forward in order to have a chance to win," said head coach Mary Burke. "We struggled offensively with getting into a rhythm. We also turned the ball over a lot which is hard to do against this team because they capitalize on all of it. We gave up a lot of points in the paint which is definitely not a recipe for success." Burke also added, "I'm disappointed that even though we didn't play very well, we were still right there and just could never get over the hump and get stops, and do things that are essential for us to be successful."

KEY MOMENTS

• In the first quarter, Maine went on a 12-2 run sparked by a three-pointer from Bianca Millan which gave the Black Bears the lead that they never surrendered throughout the entirety of the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bryant won the tip at the beginning of the game as Masey Zegarowski (Hilton, Mass.) made the first to give Bryant its only lead of the game.
• In the first quarter, Maine capitalized on Bryant's seven turnovers scoring nine of their points from the Bulldogs lost possessions.
• Lesko came off the bench in the second quarter ending Maine's 5-0 run with her first three-pointer of the season. Lesko scored 13 consecutive points for the Bulldogs as Haley Connors (West Hartford, Conn.) was the only other Bryant player to score a basket in the second quarter.
• Palmer led the Bulldogs in free throws going a perfect 4-4 in the third quarter. The Bulldogs went to the line 14 times sinking 10, as more than half of their points in the third quarter came from the free throw line. Bryant was able to come within nine with 34 seconds to go in the third after Holloway sank a pair of free throws making it the smallest lead that Maine had since the start of the game.
• Maine pulled away even more in the fourth quarter gaining its biggest lead of 19 points when Tanesha Sutton hit two free throws with four minutes remaining in the contest.  

STATS

• Despite being outscored in the paint 42-24, the Bulldogs out rebounded Maine 39-33.
• Palmer scored a season-high 11 points compiling a perfect six for six from the line.
• Lesko scored all 13 of her points in the second quarter shooting 3-3 from behind the arc in that same quarter.
• Maine outshot the Bulldogs shooting 49.2% from the field compared to the Bulldogs 34.6%.

GAME NOTES

• Holloway recorded her third consecutive double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
• This marks the first loss of the season at Chace for the Bulldogs.
• The Black Bears now lead the all-time series 6-3.

UP NEXT

Bryant travels to Holloway's hometown of Morgantown, W.Va. to meet with No. 25 West Virginia on Thursday, November 15 at 10 a.m.