The defending America East champion University of Maine women’s basketball team opens the season with a rare morning game on Monday against LaSalle University of Philadelphia.
Tip-off is at 11 a.m. at the Memorial Gym in what is billed as the ‘Field Trip Game’ because hundreds of schoolchildren from seven local schools will be in attendance.
This will be the first one hosted by UMaine. The Black Bears have played on other team’s Field Trip games.
The Black Bears, 24-10 a year ago, will be without two-time America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Anne Simon, who finished her eligibility as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,982 career points, and two-time first team All-America East first teamer Adrianna Smith, who is injured.
Smith, the league’s Player of the Year two years ago, will miss the season after having knee surgery.
LaSalle comes to Orono with 13 new players after going 8-22 a year ago.
“We’re excited. It’s our Kids game so there will be a packed house,” said UMaine sophomore guard Sarah Talon.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon and her players said the early start is no big deal.
“It won’t be that different. We practice early in the mornings. It will obviously feel different because it’s a game but I think we’ll be ready to go,” said graduate student guard Olivia Rockwood.
“The time doesn’t matter too much. You’ve got to be ready at all times,” said graduate student guard/forward Caroline Bornemann.
“We play games at all different times all the time,” said Vachon.
In addition to losing Simon and Smith, the Black Bears also won’t have highly-touted freshman guard Maddie Fitzpatrick this season because the state’s two-time schoolgirl Gatorade Player of the Year has also undergone season-ending knee surgery.
UMaine does return nine players but Bornemann, Rockwood and Talon are the only three who averaged more than 20 minutes of playing time per game. Bornemannn averaged 33.1 minutes, Rockwood averaged 26.3 and Talon had 20.9 minutes.
“It’s a great group,” said Vachon. “It’s definitely a work in progress.
“We’re going to need a lot of different people to score and rebound than we had the last year,” Vachon said. “People need to get comfortable taking shots they haven’t normally taken. But it’s good.”
“We’re looking good,” said Rockwood. “We’ve all been good at adjusting and working together to try to make it work.”
Bornemann, Talon and Rockwood were the team’s third, fourth and fifth leading scorers a year ago behind Simon and Smith.
Bornemann averaged 7.3 points along with 5.5 rebounds; Talon averaged 6.5 points and 2.2 rebounds and Rockwood averaged 6.3 points and was second on the team with 55 3-pointers.
