On paper, the University of Maine women’s basketball team is the favorite to win the America East Tournament.
After all, the Black Bears claimed their fifth regular season championship in seven years with last Sunday’s impressive 63-46 win over visiting Albany in the game between the co-leaders.
And they have the best two players in the conference who just so happen to be the last three America East Players of the Year: two-time America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Anne Simon (2021-22, 2023-24) and 2022-23 Player of the Year Adrianna Smith, who joined Simon on the All-AE first team.
Simon leads the conference in scoring (18.9 points per game) and is second in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and steals (2.4). Smith is third in the country in double-doubles (21) among players at 349 Division I schools; tops the conference and is eighth in the country in rebounding (11.2 rpg) and is leading America East in assists (4.5 apg).
Smith is also second in the league in scoring (16.4 ppg).
But the Black Bears certainly aren’t a shoo-in because the supporting cast has been inconsistent.
They have all shown glimpses of being productive role players but have also had their share of underwhelming performances.
For example, since pouring in 24 points in a win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology, senior guard-forward Caroline Bornemann has averaged 5.6 points per game over her last 11. Senior guard and 3-point specialist Olivia Rockwood scored a game-high 24 points to lead UMaine to a road win at Bryant in Simon’s absence (ankle injury) but she has averaged 4.3 points over her last seven contests.
Sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher, another 3-point specialist, followed three consecutive double-digit games with 41 points over her next 18 games.
It should be noted that playing time can be limited for the role players depending upon the opponent and the circumstances.
The most productive supplemental scorer of late has been sophomore guard Sarah Talon, who has averaged nine points over her last seven contests.
She has been, by far, the team’s most improved player from last year.
To their credit, the supporting players have done other things well to help the team churn out wins, starting with their impressive play on the defensive end to complement Simon and Smith.
UMaine has allowed just 51 points per game in conference play which is tied with Vermont for first. It leads the conference in turnover margin at plus-4.31. Vermont is second at a distant 1.88.
It tops the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.26.
The Black Bears are averaging 16.4 points per game off turnovers compared with the opponents’ 11.
There is a grittiness to this team that has enabled it to overcome its lack of size to be the league’s best rebounding team at 38.8 per game including an AE-best 12.9 offensive rebounds.
That has led to an eye-opening edge in second-chance points at 11.5 points per game (16-5.5).
Bornemann has been a good third rebounder averaging 5.5 per game.
The defense and rebounding have enabled the streak-shooting Black Bears to limit the damage when they go into a funk.
The Black Bears are 21-9 overall and 14-2 in the conference and will host eighth-seed UMass Lowell (4-24, 4-12) in Friday’s America East quarterfinal.
UMaine will have home court advantage throughout the playoffs and it is 7-0 at the Memorial Gymnasium in conference games. The Black Bears also won a game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor when there was a power outage in Orono.
The semifinals will be Monday and the championship game will be Friday.
The Black Bears will need to get some contributions from the supporting cast to win the tournament title and erase the memories left by three straight disappointing tourney losses, which included poor performances at The Pit to Albany (56-47) and now-departed Stony Brook (64-60).
UMaine lost to Albany in the semifinals last year.
Those contributions will be even more important if Smith and/or Simon have an off night or get injured or get into foul trouble.
Simon returned to UMaine for a fifth year because she wanted a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
UMaine hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since going in back-to-back seasons (2018-19, 2017-18).
The school’s sixth all-time leading scorer deserves that chance but UMaine has to win the tourney to earn the automatic qualifier.
Head coach Amy Vachon, the league’s Coach of the Year for a league-record fifth time, and her staff will be challenged.
They will have to gauge which of the role players are potentially going to be the most productive against a specific opponent. And they will have to adjust if the performance/performances aren’t cutting it and try to plug in someone else.