Bowdoin College, the University of Southern Maine and the University of New England received invitations Monday to the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament, which begins this week.

The three were among the 20 at-large teams selected to the 64-team field (along with 43 conference champions and one independent team).

Additional Photos

Courtney Cochran and her USM teammates beat Bowdoin during the regular season, and now get to face the Polar Bears again. John Patriquin/2011 Press Herald file

Another at-large candidate, Colby, was not selected.

“I felt confident we’d get in,” said Colby Coach Julie Veilleux. “But you never know.”

The NCAA paired Bowdoin against USM, two teams with plenty of history in the tournament. The Polar Bears and Huskies will meet in the first round Friday. But instead of one team traveling 35 miles to the other’s gym, the two teams are busing over 400 miles to play at Ithaca (N.Y.) College.

“It’s funny to travel to Ithaca to play your next door neighbor,” Polar Bears Coach Adrienne Shibles said.

Neither Bowdoin (19-7) nor USM (21-6) is rated high enough to be a host team for the first two rounds. They will be part of a doubleheader Friday, likely preceding the Ithaca (23-4) vs. Elms (20-8) game. The winners will play Saturday. Starting times haven’t been determined.

Bowdoin and USM met once this season, with the Huskies winning 63-49 at home on Nov. 29.

“I think we’re both very different teams since then,” USM Coach Gary Fifield said.

UNE was also not rated high enough to host early-round games, but the Nor’easters (22-5) are simply pleased to make the tournament. They will play Johns Hopkins (23-4) on Friday in Medford, Mass. Tufts (21-6), the host team, will play Misericordia (23-4).

UNE, like Bowdoin and USM, did not win its conference tournament, which would have ensured an automatic invitation. The Nor’easters were the top seed in the Commonwealth Coast Conference but were upset in the semifinals.

“It was out of our control,” UNE Coach Anthony Ewing said of the NCAA selection process.

During the NCAA selection show, shown live on the internet Monday afternoon, the field was revealed eight teams at a time. It was not until the second-to-last group of teams that UNE’s name appeared.

“I had to sweat that thing out,” Ewing said. “I tried to keep the players out of my office, but they came in. It was gut-wrenching.”

But soon there were cheers and relief, as UNE will make its second NCAA appearance in the last three years.

Ewing strengthened his team’s nonconference schedule to improve its at-large chances. While UNE lost to Williams and Bowdoin, it beat USM, Rhode Island College, Bates, St. Joseph’s and Colby.

“If you get a few wins in those games, it’s supposed to work for you, and it did,” Ewing said.

UNE’s 70-63 win at Colby on Dec. 6 may have been the key to the Nor’easters making it and Colby staying home.

Veilleux’s disappointment stems from Colby having the sixth most difficult schedule in the nation “and every team we lost to was not a bad loss.”

All seven of Colby’s losses were against teams that reached the NCAA tournament, including two to unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Amherst.

UNE was ranked No. 170 in strength of schedule.

Veilleux did not begrudge UNE’s selection. “I’m not surprised because they beat us,” she said.

But she questioned why other at-large teams, like King’s and Messiah, both in Pennsylvania, were chosen despite weaker schedules (90th and 105th, respectively).

Before the field was announced, the website www.d3hoops.com projected both UNE and Colby in the tournament, and King’s and Messiah out.

“I question if the committee doesn’t want to allow so many Northeast teams,” Veilleux said. “My heart goes out to our seniors. It just doesn’t feel right to end like this.

“But, every year, teams like us (on the bubble) feel the way we do.”

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

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