Maine senior guard Parise Rossignol goes up for a shot against Hartford in a regular season game earlier this season at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Rossignol will help the Black Bears try to win their second straight America East title when the playoffs begin on Wednesday. Photo by Anthony Delmonaco (click to enlarge)
The University of Maine women’s basketball team will start their defense of last years America East championship when the playoffs begin at home at the Cross Insurance Center on Wednesday night. Maine earned the #1 seed for a second straight season, and fourth time in the last five years. The Black Bears finished the regular season with a road win at Binghamton Saturday for their 11th straight victory, finishing at 22-7 and 15-1 in America East, capturing the regular season conference title.
Maine will host the #8 seed University of New Hampshire Wildcats in Bangor at 7 pm Wednesday night. The Bears had two convincing wins over the Wildcats in the regular season, 67-46 on January 2 at home, and 69-45 on February 2 in Durham, NH. UNH had a down season during an injury riddled 2018-19, finishing overall at 6-23 and 3-13 in conference play including five straight losses coming in to Bangor on Wednesday. The border rivals will be led by Ashley Storey, who is averaging 17.1 points per game and 6.1 rebounds. Kari Brekke also puts in 10.0 points per outing, and averages 2.3 assists. Caroline Soucy is averaging 9.1 points and 5.6 rebounds. The ‘Cats average 53 points per game, while they give up 64.7. They also hold a 2-13 record in road games in all games away from their home court this season.
The Black Bears are led by Blanca Millan, who averages 17.6 PPG, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.7 steals. Tanesha Sutton puts in 14.1 PPG, and 7.2 rebounds. Parise Rossignol also checks in with 11.4 PPG and 3.8 rebounds. Maine scores at a 67.2 points per game average, while giving up 58.6. The Bears are 10-1 at Cross Insurance Center this season, with the only loss coming by three points to ACC opponent Duke back in November. With a win, Maine will host a semifinal contest on Sunday at 1 pm at Memorial Gym (the Pit) in Orono. And with a win in that semifinal contest, the Black Bears for a second straight year will host the America East title game at the CIC on Friday, March 15 at 5 pm. The playoff field will be re-seeded after the quarterfinal round, with semifinals to be played at the highest remaining seeds home court. If Maine wins and Hartford wins in the Q-final round, the lowest remaining seed will come to Maine, and the second lowest remaining seed will make the trip to Hartford. If Maine happens to win the tournament and goes to the NCAA field of 64, ESPN projections currently have them as a #14 seed traveling to #3 seed Maryland to face the Terrapins in an NCAA first round game.
In other quarterfinal games Wednesday at 7 pm, #7 UMBC will be at #2 Hartford, #6 Vermont at #3 Stony Brook, and #5 Binghamton plays at #4 Albany.
