With a Sunday win over Stony Brook at the Augusta Civic Center, the University of Maine women’s basketball team is closing in an America East regular season title.
Maine improved to 13-1 in the conference, one game head of second place Hartford who is 12-2. With a win on Wednesday night at UMass-Lowell, the Bears would improve to 14-1. Maine won the first meeting with the River Hawks in Bangor 79-45 on January 30. A loss in the season finale at Binghamton would put them at 14-2 at the end of the regular season. Hartford also could possibly finish at 14-2 with wins this week over Binghamton and Albany. In a tie situation, the first tiebreaker is head to head which the Bears and Hawks split the season series 1-1. The second tiebreaker would decide it, and Maine would win that based on the RPI (rating points index) based off the strength of the non-conference schedule. The only possible way Maine doesn’t win the regular season title is two losses to Lowell and Binghamton and two Hartford wins. The most simple thing is to just win Wednesday night and wrap it up, to avoid any pressure of a must win game heading into the Saturday matchup at Binghamton who has been a dangerous team at times to face this season and has recorded a win over second place Hartford. The Black Bears did defeat the Bearcats in the previous meeting back on January 27 in Bangor 95-66.
The top seed (regular season champ) has the advantage to host the entire America East Tournament on their home court if it continues to advance, with an opportunity to advance to the field of 64 in the NCAA Tournament. Maine has already clinched that home court advantage to host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, March 6 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor at 7 pm. Hartford and Stony Brook have also clinched the right to host a quarterfinal on the same day and time, with Albany and Binghamton fighting for the four seed to also host a quarterfinal. Due to scheduling and another event taking up the CIC, Maine would be forced to play a possible semifinal game on Sunday, March 10 at the Pit (Memorial Gym) on the UMaine campus. If Maine is in fact the #1 seed and wins both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, the championship game would be at the Cross Insurance Center on Friday, March 15. Maine topped Hartford in last seasons America East Tournament title game at the CIC, before losing to Texas in a first round NCAA regional. The semifinal game depending on location will be played at either 1 or 2 pm, with the championship contest slated to begin at 5 pm.
