ORONO, Maine ( Associated Press) — Morgan Honey scored 20 points And Albany hit the final seven free throws to defeat the Maines 56-47 in the championship game of the America East Conference tournament on Friday night and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
The second-seeded Great Dane never backed down, but by 49-42, they missed a pair of free throws in 51.1 seconds but made it tense. However, he caught the offensive rebound and made the second of the two.
When the top-seeded Maine, riding a 14-game winning streak and with an 11-straight win over Albany, missed a shot, the free throw sealed the game for Albany.
Alain Hahn added 13 points and nine rebounds for Albany (23-9), heading for his sixth NCAA Tournament following a five-year run as of 2017. Kayla Cooper had 12 rebounds, eight points and five assists. The Great Dane was without a forward Lucia Decortes due to a leg injury.
The difference in the game was the first quarter when four different players hit 3-pointers – in five attempts – as Albany went top 20-12. Then AEC’s sixth player, Haney, led the Great Dane to 13-straight points in the second quarter. Honey hit 3 out of 4 from a distance And Alain Hahn’s final minute free throw made it 34-24 at half.
Albany scored 7 out of 10 in the back of the arc and scored 52% of the overall. 2 defense in the nation, allowing 48.6 points, the Black Bears faced a long task to get their 10th NCAA Tournament berth.
The Great Danes were just 1 in 9 in the third quarter, but were only out 8-4. Maine scored 4 of 17 in the fourth quarter while Albany scored 11 of 16 from the foul line.
AEC Player of the Year Anne Simon scored 15 points for the Black Bears (20-11) and Caroline Bonnerman had 13.
Albany cooled to 41.5% shooting, but was 8 out of 14 at the back of the arc, including a crucial tray from Haney for a 49-41 lead with 1:23 at the end of the shot clock.
Main was 3 of 13 from the distance and made 34% of his shots, making it difficult to take advantage of 18 turnovers.
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More Associated Press Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https:// twitter.com/AP_Top25
