Coaches in America East picked the University of Maine women’s basketball team to finish first again this season.
The defending conference regular season and tournament champion Black Bears received five first-place votes and 60 points in the preseason poll announced Monday.
Albany was picked second with 56 points and three first-place votes, and Vermont was third with 48 points.
They were followed by Bryant (44), Binghamton (38), University of Maryland Baltimore County (26), UMass Lowell (19), the New Jersey Institute of Technology (18) and New Hampshire (15).
Binghamton received the other first-place vote.
The poll was conducted before UMaine’s Adrianna Smith, a two-time All-America East first team selection and 2022-23 Player of the Year, was lost to the season due to a knee injury.
Smith set a new school and America East record with 22 double-doubles last year and averaged 16.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. She led the league in rebounds and assists and was second in scoring behind teammate Anne Simon, who concluded her career as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer (1,982 points).
UMaine also lost highly touted incoming freshman and two-time Maine Gatorade Schoolgirl Player of the Year Maddie Fitzpatrick due to a season-ending knee injury.
UMaine does return six of its top eight scorers off last year’s 24-10 team (14-2 in the conference) led by graduate students Caroline Bornemann (7.3 points per game, 5.5 rebounds) and Olivia Rockwood (6.3 ppg, 36.7 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point range) and junior Sarah Talon (6.5 rpg, 2.2 rpg).
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon, the five-time America East Coach of the Year, said she has had to “reconfigure what we’re doing” because last year’s offense revolved around Smith, who “touched the ball on every possession.”
Vachon pointed out that she has dealt with this situation before as two-time America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Blanca Millan played just six games during the 2019-20 season due to a knee injury and Simon missed 16 games two years ago due to a bad ankle sprain.
“Fortunately, we have a pretty experienced group coming back so we’re in a better spot than we were before,” said Vachon, who is beginning her eighth full season as the head coach.”The cupboard isn’t bare by any means. [Losing Smith and Fitzpatrick] does hurt but the reality is nobody feels bad for us and we have really good players on our team.
“It’s awesome to have Olivia Rockwood and Caroline Bornemann back for a fifth year. They know how we operate on and off the court,” said Vachon. “[Senior guard] Paula Gallego has come back in the best shape of her career and she can play a lot of different positions, which helps us.
“I’m hoping Sarah Talon can take a big step forward this year on both sides of the ball. She has the talent and ability to be the Defensive Player of the Year in the conference but whether she is or not (remains to be seen). She is long, athletic, quick and smart,” said Vachon.
Vachon is excited about transfer Asta Blauenfeldt from Seattle University.
“We have been in dire need of a point guard the past couple of years and she fills that need really well,” said Vachon.
The other returnees who have played significant minutes are guards Sera Hodgson, a senior, and junior Jaycie Christopher.
“We have a lot of different kids who will be fighting for playing time now,” said Vachon.
UMaine plays a tough non-conference schedule again this season including back-to-back road games against Indiana (Dec. 1) and Purdue (Dec. 4).
“We like to play a real tough non-conference schedule to prepare us for conference games. We know America East is going to be real good like it always is and I think the parity this year is the highest it’s been in a long time,” said Vachon.
UMaine opens at 11 a.m. Nov. 4 with a non-conference game against LaSalle University (Pa.).
