ORONO, Maine — After losing 2022-23 America East Player of the Year and two-time All-America East first team selection Adrianna Smith and highly touted incoming two-time Maine Gatorade Player of the Year Maddie Fitzpatrick to season-ending knee injuries, the University of Maine women’s basketball team will be reinventing itself this season.
Smith, a forward, led the league in rebounds (10.8 rebounds per game) and assists (4.7) and was second in points with 16.4 ppg behind teammate Anne Simon’s 18.9 ppg.
The Black Bears already knew they were going to be without Simon, a two-time America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year who finished her eligibility and concluded her remarkable career as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer (1,982 points). She was also fifth in steals (280) and 10th in rebounds (721).
But the players aren’t dwelling on their bad luck.
“We are just all going to have to step up in our own way,” said graduate student forward Caroline Bornemann. “The goal is still the same [winning the America East championship], but the path will be a little different.”
“We prepare for every situation,” junior guard Jaycie Christopher of Skowhegan said. “You never know what’s going to happen during a season. You have to roll with the punches and figure it out as we go. That’s what we’re going to do.
“We’ll be fine,” Christopher added.
“It’s going to take some time,” graduate student guard Olivia Rockwood said. “We’ll have to see what works and doesn’t work.
“We’ll figure it out eventually,” Rockwood added. “We’ll get there.”
“It isn’t anything we haven’t been through before, unfortunately,” said head coach Amy Vachon, who is beginning her eighth full season as the head coach after an 18-game stint as the interim head coach in the 2016-17 season.
“But it’s a little different with [Smith out] because of the position she plays. Our offense centers around that position so that will be a little bit different,” said Vachon, who is a five-time America East Coach of the Year and has guided the Black Bears to the league title and their third NCAA Tournament berth in her tenure last season.
“Fortunately, we have a veteran team. We have a lot of people with experience coming back,” Vachon pointed out.
UMaine returns six players with anywhere from 63 to 116 career games under their belt.
Rockwood has appeared in 116 games, Bornemann has played in 106, senior guard Paula Gallego has 91, senior guard Sera Hodgson has played 82 games, Christopher has appeared in 64 and junior guard Sarah Talon has 63 to her credit.
Vachon said everyone will get “sidetracked” by the amount of points Smith and Simon scored.
“But we are losing close to 20 rebounds per game, and that’s a lot of rebounds to lose,” Vachon said.
Simon averaged 7.2 rebounds per game, so between Smith and Simon it’s a loss of 18 rebounds per game out of the 37.1 UMaine averaged a year ago.
“We’re also obviously going to have to score more points. We know that. But we have people who can score. It’s who’s going to step up [on the boards],” Vachon said.
Bornemann averaged 5.5 rebounds per game in 2023-24, but she is the only returnee who averaged more than 2.2 rpg for the guard-heavy Black Bears.
She was also their third-leading scorer with 7.3 ppg.
Talon (6.5 ppg), who is from Windham, and Rockwood (6.3) were the only others to average more than three points per game.
“Our shot selection will be a lot [more important] for a lot of people. We’ve had a big drop in [points]. But it will come,” Talon said.
Six-foot-two Caroline Dotsey appeared in 20 games as a freshman last season but only averaged 3.9 minutes per game. And the game has a 6-foot-3 freshman from Spain in Ona Alarcon.
The Black Bears have always been sound, defensively, and the players said they will continue.
UMaine held opponents to 57 points per game last season, which was 28th best among 349 Division I programs.
“We definitely take pride in our defense, and that will stay consistent, for sure,” Rockwood said.
UMaine, 24-10 a year ago, will open the season against LaSalle University from Philadelphia at 11 a.m. on Nov. 4 at the Memorial Gym in Orono.
