Analysis: UMaine women’s basketball team should be in conference title hunt next season

After four frustrating seasons including losses in two America East championship games at the Memorial Gym in Orono and another title game canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Maine women’s basketball team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season after winning the America East tournament.

It also won the regular season title.

Despite their accomplishments and 24-9 record entering the NCAA tourney, the Black Bears play in America East which is ranked only 24th-best among 32 conferences in the NET Rankings.

That means they received only a 15th seed and had to play a second seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The outcome was as expected with Big Ten regular season champ Ohio State ousting UMaine 80-57 on its home court in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State then lost to seventh seed Duke University 75-63 in the second round.

The Black Bears received tremendous seasons from America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Anne Simon, a graduate student guard who averaged 18.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game, and fellow All-America East first team selection Adrianna Smith (16.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 4.7 apg).

Smith is a junior forward who also led the team in blocked shots with 25 and was second in steals with 1.4 per game. Smith had a league and school record 22 double-doubles on the season and topped the league in assists and rebounds.

Simon was the league’s leading scorer and left UMaine as the school’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,982 career points and joined former teammate Blanca Millan as the only players to receive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same year twice.

She also departs as the school’s fifth all-time leader in steals (280) and 10th in rebounds (721).

Simon capped her remarkable career by averaging nearly 30 points per game in two outings against nationally-ranked Big Ten schools Indiana and Ohio State (29.5). She had 34 against Indiana and 25 against Ohio State.

She will be impossible to replace.

In addition to her on-court play, she was a well-liked team leader and a woman who always handled herself with dignity and class. She was also the 2023 recipient of the Dean Smith Award which goes to the top male and female student-athletes at UMaine.

Simon became the point guard this season although it’s not her natural position and did an impressive job.

Even though the Black Bears turned the ball over 22 times against the full-court press of Ohio State, one of the national leaders in forcing turnovers (10th, 21.1 per game), UMaine wound up turning it over only 12.5 times per game which was 19th fewest among 349 Division I schools.

Expect the Luxembourg native who speaks four languages to be playing professional basketball next season, probably in Europe.

The only other Black Bear who will depart will be graduate student guard Anna Kahelin. She didn’t produce any noteworthy stats but was a quality defender who was an inspiration to the team for returning for a fifth year despite having three knee surgeries.

Smith, who has already eclipsed the 1,000-point total despite scoring only 64 points in 215 minutes of playing time as a freshman, will be the kingpin next season.

The 2022-23 America East Player of the Year is a fierce rebounder and competitor who uses her quickness, inside moves and ability to score with both hands to outplay opposing post players who are much taller than her. She has also added a mid-range jump shot to her arsenal and she hit a career-high 10 3-pointers this season.

Senior guard and 3-point specialist Olivia Rockwood will return next season after having an impressive playoff run which could bode well for her becoming a more consistent double-digit scorer.

She averaged 11 points per game in UMaine’s three America East playoff wins and the loss to Ohio State.

She had 15 points vs. Ohio State on five 3-pointers and was 12-for-26 from long distance in the playoffs (46.1 percent).

She finished averaging 6.3 points per game.

Senior forward Caroline Bornemann (7.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg) had an up-and-down season that included nine games with 10 or more points, including a 27-point outing against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and 12 with three or fewer points. She rebounded effectively and improved her defense but will have to become a more confident shooter and help fill the void left by Simon’s absence.

Sophomore guard Sarah Talon from Windham was the team’s most improved player, by far.

The athletic Talon, who has great leaping ability, averaged 6.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game and played seven more minutes per game than a year ago when she averaged 3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds.

Expect her to take another jump next season. She needs to keep working on her shooting and become more of an offensive weapon. She was second on the team in blocks with 14.

The only other players who averaged 13 or more minutes of playing time per game were junior guards Paula Gallego and Sera Hodgson and sophomore guard Jaycie Christopher from Skowhegan.

All three saw significant drops in playing time of at least seven minutes per game.

Each had impactful games but they weren’t consistent.

Gallego had her first career double-double in a win over Binghamton with 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds and had two more games in double figures in scoring; Hodgson had a pair of games with four 3-pointers and Christopher had three consecutive games in double figures in scoring and averaged 15 ppg in those three games.

However, between them, they had a combined 47 games in which they were held scoreless.

They are all good players who are capable of having productive seasons next year and UMaine head coach Amy Vachon will be counting on them to contribute more.

Christopher and Gallego did an admirable job handling point guard duties during the 2022-23 season and Christopher also led the team among shooters who took at least 20 threes with a 42.5 percent shooting percentage from long distance that year.

She needs to regain her confidence in her shooting because Vachon expects the talented and hard-working Christopher to score. Look for her to have a bounceback season.

Hodgson is a solid defender and Gallego has some offensive upside with her passing ability and ability to get to the rim.

Idan Shlush, Milana Nenadic, Caroline Dotsey, Aislin Gibson, Anna Soler and Bangor’s Emmie Streams got a few minutes here and there. The 6-foot-2 Dotsey has some good post moves and could provide depth in the paint and Gibson, also 6-2, might be capable of helping out at the guard position after missing most of the season due to injury.

Incoming Cheverus High of Portland star Maddie Fitzpatrick, Maine’s Gatorade Player of the Year and Miss Maine Basketball, should be impactful right away. The 5-11 guard can score from anywhere, handle the ball, defend and rebound.

Central of Corinth’s Izzy Allen, a 5-11 guard, can shoot from all three levels (inside, mid-range, threes) but didn’t play this past season due to knee surgery and it remains to be seen how long it will take her to adjust to Division 1 basketball coming from a Class C school.

Six-foot-three Ona Alarcon from Spain could give UMaine another scoring option in the post option and help on the boards.

UMaine will be in the hunt to defend its title and earn a fourth berth to the NCAA tournament in eight years and seventh America East championship game appearance in that span.

Vachon and assistants Courtney England, Tom Biskup, Gadson Lefft and Lexi Mittelstadt are going to be busy recruiting in the off-season because they will lose Smith, Rockwood, Bornemann, Gallego and Hodgson after next season.