The University of Maine women’s basketball team has added a National Junior College Athletic Association first team All-American to its roster for the upcoming season.
Six-foot guard-forward Kaliyah Sain from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, averaged 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.2 assists per game this past season for Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.
Kirkwood finished fourth in the NJCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship, compiling a 33-2 record.
Sain had spent the 2023-24 season at NCAA Division I Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri, where she appeared in 21 games, averaging 7.4 minutes, 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
She started all 35 games for Kirkwood and shot 46.8 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from the 3-point arc. She averaged 21.1 minutes of playing time per game.
During the Eagles’ four NJCAA championship games, she averaged 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest including 19-point and 15-point games.
Prior to her collegiate career, she was a three-time first-team All-Metro and All-MVC Valley selection at John F. Kennedy High School where she averaged 21 points and eight rebounds per game. She was a two-time second team All-State pick.
On the club basketball scene, she played for Team Iowa and averaged 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said she was “thrilled” to land Sain.
“Kaliyah is a tremendous young woman who will be a perfect compliment to our team,” Vachon said in a press release on Monday. “She is a tall, versatile guard who can defend multiple positions and also score from all three levels.”
Sain is the second transfer added by Vachon and her staff, joining 6-foot-4 center Lizzy Gruber from Gardiner who is transferring in from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
“A true student-athlete, we couldn’t have found a better person or player to add to our program,” Vachon added about Sain.
UMaine has lost two players to the transfer portal in sophomore forward and America East Sixth Player of the Year Caroline Dotsey, who moved on to Division I Butler University in Indianapolis, and Skowhegan junior guard Jaycie Christopher to Division III the University of Southern Maine.
The Black Bears return starting point guard Asta Blauenfeldt, who had an impressive first season at UMaine (32.3 minutes per game, 9.7 points) after transferring from Seattle University. But they are losing the other three guards who averaged the most playing time this past season in Olivia Rockwood (29.5 minutes per game), Paula Gallego (27.6) and Sera Hodgson (24) — with all three exhausting their eligibility as seniors or grad students.
Sarah Talon will return for her senior year after playing 18 minutes a game. Former Miss Maine Basketball and two-time Maine schoolgirl Gatorade Player of the Year Maddie Fitzpatrick, a redshirt sophomore, will be making her Black Bear debut after missing this past season due to knee surgery.
There are six other guards on the UMaine roster.
Former Bangor High standout Emmie Streams will be a junior and appeared in 22 games. Corinth’s Izzy Allen will be a sophomore and saw playing time in four games.
Amiyah Donaldson sat out the season after transferring from Western Nebraska Community College and there are three incoming freshmen in Olivia Alvarez Tirado, Abby Price and Lala Woods.
Another incoming player, Mackenzie Mori, is a guard/forward.
UMaine went 15-16 overall last season and 9-7 in America East. The Black Bears lost to Albany 49-41 in the conference semifinals after beating the New Jersey Institute of Technology 65-51 in the quarterfinals.
UMaine did not have the services of two-time America East first team selection and former league Player of the Year Adrianna Smith due to knee surgery but she will return this season.
