BIDDEFORD — There wasn’t quite as much on the line as the last time the Tufts and University of New England women’s basketball teams met.

But Sunday night’s opening-weekend rematch between the two teams, who played a thrilling overtime game in last year’s NCAA Division III tournament that Tufts won on a buzzer beater, sure felt like it could have been played in early March rather than mid-November.

Trailing 28-21 after a stilted first-half performance, the Nor’easters made a run against the Jumbos in the second half. But much like last March, they just couldn’t quite get over the top as Tufts, ranked third in the country in the Division III preseason poll, held on to beat 16th-ranked UNE 63-58 in the championship game of the Ramada Roundball Invitational at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Jumbos, who after surviving the upset scare from the Nor’easters last year went all the way to the national semifinals, improved to 2-0 after also beating Keene State 79-48 in the semifinals on Saturday.

UNE (1-1), which lost at the Forum for just the second time in the building’s three-year history, had topped Wellesley 65-51 in the other semi.

“When you play the No. 3 team in the country it is an opportunity and that’s the way we looked at it,” UNE coach Anthony Ewing said. “We weren’t looking about last year or anything, we just wanted to beat a really good basketball team on our home floor and defend our building, which means more to us than anything else. We had some opportunities at the end and just couldn’t capitalize.”

Trailing 59-56 with a minute remaining following two Meghan Gribbin free throws, UNE was able to get the ball back after a strong defensive possession ended with Tufts point guard Kelsey Morehead throwing the ball out of bounds.

Coming out of a timeout with 21 seconds left, the Nor’easters decided to go for a quick two points and nearly had it when Kelly Coleman got open on the in-bounds pass, but she missed a lay-up from under the rim. Center Alicia Brown grabbed the board but couldn’t finish, and Tufts’ Hannah Foley came out of the pack and hit both her free throws to make it a five-point game.

Gribbin hit a running jumper to get it back to three with five seconds remaining, but Foley, the tournament’s MVP, hit two more free throws for the last of her team-high 18 points to seal the win.

“That’s a lot of time. We wanted to get a quick two and a quick foul,” Ewing said of the decision to go for two rather than the tie. “Hopefully then they miss the free throws and we get the ball back controlling our own destiny. Unfortunately, we missed and ended up having to foul one of their better free throw shooters and she made her throws.”

Neither team was able to get much going during a slow-boiling first half that saw UNE shoot 36.8 percent to Tufts’ 37 percent. The Nor’easters turned the ball over 12 times in the opening 20 minutes against the Jumbos stifling man-to-man defense, with Alanna Vose’s 11 points off the bench the only thing keeping UNE in the game.

Tufts was able to keep the lead in high single digits for the opening part of the second half, and led 48-40 with nine minutes to play before UNE went on an 8-2 run to pull back to within two, the closest the Nor’easters had been since it was 15-13.

Brown started the run with two free throws, followed by a Vose 3-pointer to make it 49-45. Coleman and Tufts’ Hayley Kanner then traded free throws before Coleman hit two more from the charity stripe to get UNE within two, the closest the Nor’easters would end up getting.

After shooting just six free throws in the first half, UNE shot 12 in the second, making 11 of them to get back in the game.

“We finished a little better and got to the foul line in the second half, which was big,” Ewing said. “We made a conscious effort to go up a little stronger and get hit rather than going up softer and getting blocked.”

A major part of that was senior forward Coleman, UNE’s leading scorer last season who in the first half struggled against the length of the Jumbos’ twin-towers front court of Kanner and Michela North, both of who stand 6-foot-2.

But Coleman, who is 5-foot-10, scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half, varying her game and taking her defender farther from the basket before either taking a jumper or swiftly driving to the basket. Coleman shot a game-high 10 free throws, making nine, and was a major factor in Kanner and Tufts backup big Melissa Baptista both fouling out in the closing minutes.

“I had to switch up my game, whether that meant shooting more jump shots outside or really trying to get off my feet, because they are so big,” Coleman said. “My little moves inside weren’t working, especially in the first half, so I had to keep my head up and keep driving because that is a big part of my game.”

In addition to Coleman’s game-high 20, Vose added 19 points ”“ including a trio of 3s ”“ while Gribbin chipped in 10 and a team-high four assists.

Sadie DiPierro and Brown were UNE’s only other scorers with five and four points, respectively. North had 14 while Kanner added 11 for the Jumbos, who also got six points and four assists off the bench from former Cony High School standout Josie Lee.

“I’m proud of the kids for at least putting us in the position to win when overall we didn’t play real well,” Ewing said. “We had our chances. I’m proud of the kids for fighting and scrapping to give us those chances. It would have been easy with the turnovers and missed lay-ups we had to think it wasn’t our night and just roll over, but the kids fought and we had a chance at the end to make it even more interesting.”

UNE will have to get over the disappointment of missing its chance at some revenge against Tufts quickly. The Nor’easters will travel to Gorham to take on in-state rival Southern Maine on Wednesday, and will next be at home on Nov. 25 when they host 22nd-ranked Bowdoin.

“I think it was in the back of everyone’s mind what happened last year. This is a whole new season, but this time it was on our court and we wanted to win so, so badly,” Coleman said. “We’ll just take this loss for what it is and get up for the next game.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.