View 9 photos

ORONO — Two things stood out Monday when the University of Maine women’s basketball team defeated Binghamton, 60-56, to advance to America East championship game.

There was the crowd in The Pit, a 1,307-person wall of noise that made everyone on the court feel like they were playing in a jet engine. Members of the Black Bears football team set the tone, taking up the first few rows behind and above the basket at which Binghamton shot in the first half. They pounded on the plexiglass, they cheered loudly, and they fired up a crowd that didn’t need much help getting fired up. They even booed the Bearcat mascot when he took the court for a routine with Binghamton’s dance team.

“I think that’s the environment, when you’re a little girl, you dream of playing in,” Binghamton coach Mary Grimes said.

The Bearcats shot 44% from the floor to Maine’s 35.7%, and grabbed 35 rebounds to Maine’s 30. But the constant cacophony made it hard on the Bearcats, who committed 19 turnovers to Maine’s eight.

And nobody made the home-court advantage work like Adrianna Smith. Maine had Smith, and that was the difference, just like it’s been in so many America East games over the last few seasons.

The America East Player of the Year for the second time in her career, Smith scored 26 points, including eight in the fourth quarter to help the Black Bears hold off Binghamton after the visitors cut a 10-point deficit to three in the final minute.

Smith hit an elbow jumped that push Maine’s lead back to seven, 46-39, early in the fourth after the Bearcats went on a 5-0 run. Her baseline jumper with just under five minutes to play gave Maine a 50-45 lead. Her four free throws down the stretch helped ice the win.

Smith also grabbed 12 rebounds, helping the Black Bears prevent a lot of second chances for a Binghamton squad that grabbed 16 offensive boards when these teams met in the regular-season finale. Maine outscored the Bearcats 8-3 in second-chance points Monday.

Smith also had four assists and three steals, and her defensive effort on Binghamton’s Kendall Bennett was exceptional. The 6-foot-2 Bennett was averaging a shade under 15 points per game. With the 6-foot Smith defending her, Bennett finished with eight points.

“She’s a really good player. She gets really good positioning. Moving my feet a lot and not having lapses on defenses is really important,” Smith said. “Because at any moment, as soon as she senses you’re not in the right spot, she’ll spin on you. Just being aware all the time, boxing out.”

The loss ended Grimes’ second season as the Bearcats’ coach. She didn’t need to account for Smith last season, when the Black Bears standout missed the campaign because of a knee injury.

“I’m thankful I only had to deal with her one year. Everybody else can cry happy tears. Just an unbelievable player,” Grimes said. “She does it so many ways, and she did it on the defensive end today. She works for it.”

This season, Smith became the first player in conference history to lead the league in scoring, rebounds and assists. She became the only America East player, woman or man, to have 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 400 assists in a career.

Nationally, the number of players averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists this season is a one-person list. Yes, it’s Smith.

Monday was Smith’s final game in that noisy, raucous, beloved Pit. Top-seeded Vermont’s 68-65 double-overtime win over UMBC means the conference final will be played in Burlington at 5 p.m. Friday.

After the game, before the Vermont score was final, Smith didn’t want to think about the possibility that she had just played the final home game of her career. She wanted to focus on where her feet are now, and that’s with at least one more game to play in a Maine uniform.

“(I’m) not thinking about the last until later,” she said. “Being out here and being able to put on a great game for our fans means a lot. That’s what I’ll remember. The atmosphere, the environment, and the support that we have when we play here.”

Maine has at least one more game with Smith on the court, and Black Bear fans should cherish it.