The University of Maine Black Bears will be seeking a fifth straight appearance in the America East women’s championship game when they host UMass-Lowell at Memorial Gymnasium (the Pit) in Orono Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in a semifinal showdown.
Maine, who is the two time defending champion, enter the game Sunday with a 17-14 record and the #2 conference seed and also have a nine game winning streak. The Black Bears and Riverhawks split two regular season meetings with UML taking a 66-57 win on January 15 at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, and Maine returning the favor with a 77-53 victory on February 12 in Bangor. Lowell comes to Orono with a 16-14 record and is the #3 seed in the tournament. The Riverhawks won their quarterfinal by eight over UMBC, while the Black Bears topped Vermont by 12.
Maine, who has had many injury problems this season, lost reigning America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Blanca Millan in the sixth game of the season with a season ending ACL injury. The Bears have also been without Fanny Wadling for the season with a concussion. The team has been for the most part playing six or seven deep, but got bad news when the first player off that bench Anna Kahelin was lost to a season ending knee injury in the final seconds of the quarterfinal win over Vermont. America East Rookie of the Year Anne Simon has led the team with 12.7 points per game and five rebounds per outing. Point guard and junior Dor Saar has started all 31 games and is averaging 12.4 points, almost three rebounds, and five assists per game. Saar has hit 82 three-pointers on the year, passing Sigi Koizar Wednesday night for third on the all-time list. Junior forward Maeve Carroll has been a force under the basket and is averaging 12.3 ppg, and eight rebounds per contest. Carroll has 10 double doubles this season, and was one assist shy of a triple double in the quarterfinal victory over Vermont. Senior guard and Calais native Maddy McVicar has stepped up big on the defensive end, and also puts in 9.9 ppg and grabs four rebounds. Kelly Fogarty has also been pushed into the starting lineup, starting 21 games and providing great perimeter range with 63 made three-pointers and shooting 36% from the arc on the season. Maine will now rely on bench players Kira Barra and Gadson Lefft, who have appeared in 31 and 15 games respectively. With the injuries the Black Bears have certainly done an outstanding job to come one win away from advancing to another conference title game, and head coach Amy Vachon deserves alot of that credit.
UMass-Lowell, who is coached by Tom Garrick, started the conference season at 7-0 before losing top scorer Ren’cia Rolling to a season ending injury during that seventh America East game. The Riverhawks finished 11-5, going 4-5 in conference play down the stretch and being overtaken by Maine for second place. Kharis Idom is now leading UML with 12.2 points per game, and five rebounds. Jaliena Sanchez averages 9.2 ppg, Denise Solis puts in 8.6 and grabs five rebounds. Shamyjha Price, Brianne Stiers, Tiahna Sears, and Chasidey Willis have also played more minutes in the absence of Rolling.
The winner will face the winner of the other semifinal matchup between #4 Binghamton and #1 Stony Brook on Long Island Sunday at 4 p.m. in the America East championship on Friday, March 13. With a Maine win and a Binghamton win, the Black Bears would host that title matchup in Bangor for a third straight season.
