The University of Maine women’s basketball team gave their fans plenty to cheer about Monday night as they earned a trip to the America East championship game.
And those fans certainly didn’t hold back with their appreciation throughout the game.
The Black Bears fans were so loud during the semifinal win over Binghamton that at one point, UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said she tried to call a timeout but the referees told her that they couldn’t hear what she was saying over the roar of the crowd.
And that wasn’t the only time it was hard to hear in the boisterous Pit at the Memorial Gym in Orono.
“It’s just an incredible atmosphere. It’s hard to play in, but it’s almost freeing for the players. They can’t hear us. They just go out and play,” Vachon said after the win. “So it’s a lot of fun. And yeah, we’re very blessed and thankful that we have people like that who come to our games — and they don’t just come, they cheer and they’re loud.”
She wasn’t the only coach who noticed the impressive atmosphere. And it wasn’t just the UMaine fans in attendance who added to it. The Binghamton band, cheerleaders and some supporters also traveled from New York.
“I just thought it was an unbelievable environment for women’s basketball,” Binghamton coach Mary Grimes said after the game. “So kudos to Maine, and you know, kudos to our administration for getting our band here, getting our cheer team here. It’s just an unbelievable environment.”
UMaine will now play Vermont in the conference final.
“I think that’s the environment when you’re a little girl that you dream of playing in,” Grimes added about Monday’s crowd. “So, shout out to America East as well.”
A raucous UMaine student section was led by a large contingent from the school’s football team.
“Black Bears take care of Black Bears,” said senior offensive lineman Max Gregor, one of the unofficial leaders of the support squad in the stands.
UMaine athletic director Jude Killy credited the football team and a long list of student athletes from other teams who pack the stands to support the basketball programs and other UMaine teams.
“It’s everything,” Killy said. “It just shows the connective tissue and the DNA of this place, when everyone’s supporting everyone else.”
UMaine administrators are already talking about how to replicate that atmosphere when the school builds its forthcoming Morse Arena as the new home for UMaine basketball.
“It makes it electric,” Killy said about the energy from the student section.
Vachon was clearly appreciative of support, both from the football team and the many other students in the mix.
“The football team is amazing. They are. But I think we’ve had a lot of other students there too the last couple of games,” Vachon said.
