Former University of Maine women’s basketball guard Anne Simon, one of only two players in America East history to be named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season twice, has signed a professional contract to play in Italy.
Simon will play for Lupebasket in San Martino di Lupari in the Italian Serie A1 league.
The graduate student guard from Sandweiler, Luxembourg was the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year this past season and in 2021-22.
She was a three-time All-America East first team choice, a two-time second team selection and the America East Rookie of the Year in 2019-20. She was also on the All-Rookie team.
This past season, the 5-foot-9 Simon averaged 18.9 points per game which led America East and was 40th in the country among players at 349 Division I schools. Her 2.48 steals per game were 35th-best in the nation.
She also averaged 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per contest.
She scored 20 or more points in 15 of her 33 games including 34 points against Indiana at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland and 25 against Ohio State in their NCAA Tournament game in Columbus, Ohio. Both were game-highs and she shot 52.4 percent from the floor against Ohio State and 50 percent against Indiana, both nationally-ranked teams.
She concluded her remarkable career as the school’s fifth-leading all-time scorer with 1,982 points. She is also fifth in steals (280) and No. 10 in rebounds (721).
She scored in double figures 103 times during her time at UMaine and had 15 double-doubles.
And she missed 16 of 30 games during the 2022-23 campaign with a badly sprained ankle.
Simon helped lead the Black Bears to their first America East Tournament championship and NCAA berth since 2019 this past season. She was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.7 assists in their three victories.
Simon was recently named a finalist for the America East Woman of the Year award.
UMaine baseball player Connor Goodman is a finalist for the AE Man of the Year Award.
Simon, who can speak four languages, is one of 11 former Black Bears on European rosters, joining Mikaela Gustafsson, Maeve Carroll and Kira Barra (Germany); Sigi Koizar, Chantel Charles and Milica Mitrovic (Romania), Millan and Alba Orois (Spain); Tanesha Sutton (Portugal) and Dor Saar (Israel).
The other America East player to be named both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season twice is Simon’s former UMaine teammate Blanca Millan.
