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The University of Maine women’s basketball team has a chance to do something that no team has ever done before in the women’s NCAA tournament. And they’re not fazed by it.
On Friday, the 15th seeded Black Bears take on the 2nd seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio. And UMaine, fresh off an impressive win in the America East conference championship, will try to become the first 15 seed ever to win a game in the women’s tournament.
But if that history or the 26.5 point spread on betting site FanDuel feels daunting, the Maine players and their coach Amy Vachon certainly aren’t showing it.
“The first thing Coach Vachon said to us was we are going there to win,” sophomore guard Sarah Talon told BDN sports reporter Larry Mahoney. “We’re going to prepare on and off the court just like any other game.”
In terms of the odds facing the team, graduate student guard Anne Simon was refreshingly blunt. “I don’t care about that,” was part of her response to Mahoney.
This approach is anything but hubris. The Black Bears clearly respect Ohio State and understand they are facing one of the best teams in the tournament, a team that Vachon said does “everything well” and is ranked 7th overall in the country.
Those odds, however, come with less pressure. The UMaine women know they can keep up with the larger conference schools, like they did with nationally-ranked Indiana earlier this season. And with March Madness magic in the air, upsets are always possible.
“You look at Ohio State and then you look at Maine. They’re a great team. But it’s March and anything can happen,” Simon said. “The coaches do a pretty good job preparing us, and I’m just excited to go down there and play without pressure.”
People across Maine will be cheering them on from afar, not with any pressure, but with lots of pride. Whether they pull off this big upset or not, nobody could be upset with their performance this season.
Stepping onto Ohio State’s home court is a tall order, to be sure, especially with the way top-seeded teams have typically performed in the tournament at home. As ESPN senior writer Andrea Adelson explained on Thursday, “Since women’s college basketball went back to playing first- and second-round games on home courts in 2015, top-two seeds had gone 74-4 at home. Of the four that pulled the upset, only one was a double-digit seed.”
However, one of the great things about the college basketball tournaments, both women’s and men’s, is the unpredictability.
“It’s called March Madness for a reason. You never know,” UMaine junior forward Adrianna Smith told the BDN.
Here’s something we do know: The Maine women are already bringing a winning attitude to Ohio, and no matter what happens on Friday, they’ve already made Maine proud.