GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Playing inspired defense and turning in a dominating performance on the boards, the University of Maine women’s basketball team defeated the University of San Francisco, 66-55, in the consolation game of the Nationwide Insurance Lady Gator Classic on Thursday.

Florida defeated North Carolina State 77-67 to win the championship Thursday night.

Maine’s Black Bears outrebounded the Lady Dons 48-33 in the consolation and held San Francisco to 34 percent shooting from the floor.

After letting North Carolina State jump to a 13-point lead in the opening minutes of Maine’s first game of the tournament Wednesday, Maine coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie was impressed by her team’s defensive effort against San Francisco.

“I like to see we outrebounded them. I felt that was key,” Palombo said. “It was a very good team game and I think Catherine Gallant and Cindy Blodgett had a very nice game together.”

Blodgett led the Bears with 23 points and Gallant had her first career double-double off the bench, scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.

Blodgett was named to the all-tournament team with Florida’s Delisha Milton and Takila Davis, San Francisco’s Valerie Gillon and N.C. State’s Jennifer Howard. Florida’s Merlakia Jones was the most valuable player.

“Catherine is athletic, tough, aggressive and she really gives us a punch off the bench,” said Palombo of Gallant. “It’s great to see it because she works very hard and she just went to her game.”

The Black Bears opened with an aggressive, trapping-style defense against the Lady Dons which kept the game close until midway through the first half. The game was tied 11-11 with 13:49 to play in the half. Maine then went on an 11-2 run and led the rest of the way.

Palombo said the defense wasn’t different but her team executed better.

“We were supposed to do that yesterday, but we didn’t really do it,” she said. “I think we executed much better defensively and we’re very pleased.

“Fifty-five (points) was a goal we had. We wanted to hold them to their lowest point total of the year and we’re quite pleased to reach that goal.”

San Francisco cut the Black Bears’ lead to 57-50 with 4:44 remaining, but Maine took advantage of the bonus situation, sinking 7-of-12 one-and-one attempts in the final four minutes to seal the victory.

Lady Dons’ coach Mary Hille-Nepfel said foul trouble down the stretch limited what her team could do defensively.

“We don’t have a lot of depth so that hurts us when we get into foul trouble,” she said. “What killed us in the second half was our inability to stop them driving to the basket.”

Two Lady Dons reached double figures. Gillon, the center, scored a game-high 27 points and, forward Andrea Kagie contributed 17.

The Black Bears haven’t been able to enjoy the warm Florida winter during their trip, but they will get in a little recreation before heading home today.

“Since we’re flying out of Orlando, we’re going to Disneyworld for a half day before we head back to Portland, Maine, for a tournament,” Palombo said.

Black Bears 66, Lady Dons 55

San Francisco Maine

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Kagie 7 16 1 3 17 Ripton 2 4 2 3 6

Demirdjian 1 4 1 2 3 Guidi 1 5 1 4 3

Gillon 12 19 3 6 27 Porrini 3 7 1 2 7

Shadian 0 5 0 0 0 Blodgett 8 15 6 7 23

Lindhe 1 11 2 4 4 Dionne 2 4 1 1 5

Rutledge 0 1 0 0 0 Grealy 2 6 3 4 7

Sequeira 0 0 0 0 0 Stubbs 0 0 0 0 0

Voiland 0 0 0 0 0 Gallant 5 7 5 10 15

Spragan 1 8 2 3 4 Carver 0 0 0 0 0

Souther 0 1 0 0 0 Rustad 0 0 0 0 0

Sullivan 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 22 65 9 18 55 Totals 23 48 19 31 66

San Francisco 22 55

Maine 27 66

3-pt. goals: Kagie 2; Blodgett 1