Women’s basketball: Maine is ready to dance once again

ORONO — The University of Maine women’s basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.

Now the Black Bears are waiting to find out who they’ll play next, and when and where.

Maine captured the America East title for a conference-record 10th time with a 64-48 victory over Vermont on Friday night in front of a packed and raucous crowd of 1,507 at The Pit.

The Black Bears (24-9) receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Maine’s last trip was in 2019, when it lost 63-51 to North Carolina State.

The Black Bears reached the America East title game in four of the five seasons since then, but the 2020 championship game was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they lost in 2021 and 2022. Last year, they fell 72-64 to Albany in the semifinals, ending a run of seven consecutive seasons in which they reached the conference final.

That meant no one on the current roster has been to an NCAA Tournament, despite the program’s consistent excellence.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think we ever lost the strength of the program,” said Maine Coach Amy Vachon, now in her seventh full season. “People would die to be in seven out of eight America East championship games. Just because we lost a couple, it happens. Winning a championship is really, really hard. We were very fortunate to win two in a row (in 2018 and 2019), and we lost two. I don’t think we took a step back, by any means, that would be a disservice to the other teams in our league, they are really good teams.”

This season, the Black Bears have had a strong mix of skilled starters and contributing role players. At the top is guard Anne Simon, who returned for a fifth season specifically for another chance at a conference championship.

“I couldn’t ask for a better fifth year,” Simon said. “This is the reason I came back. Just being able to do it with these people – and with (fifth-year guard Anna Kahelin), too… I’m just happy we can do this together and have this amazing last year.”

Simon, the America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for the second time, has been a force at both ends of the court, leading the Black Bears in points (18.8 per game) and steals (79). She also averages 7.3 rebounds. At 1,957 points, Simon is sixth on the program’s all-time scoring list.

Maine’s Olivia Rockwood, left, and Caroline Bornemann battle with Vermont’s Keira Hanson for a loose ball in the America East women’s basketball championship game Friday in Orono. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Junior forward Adrianna Smith has been just as impressive, averaging a double-double (16.6 points, 10.9 rebounds), while leading the team in assists (4.6 per game).

But the supporting cast has made important contributions. With Smith in foul trouble throughout Friday’s game, Maine produced one of its most well-rounded efforts of the season. Senior guard Olivia Rockwood (5.9 points per game) netted 10 points. Junior guard Paula Gallego came off the bench for six key points in the third quarter, when the Black Bears outscored the Catamounts by a 17-8 margin.

“We have ballers on our team. Like Paula, she’s a dog,” Smith said of Gallego. “She’s going to come in and do what she needs to do. I saw it from her even from shootaround today.”

Then there’s the play of sophomore guard Sarah Talon, a Windham High graduate. The youngest player in the starting lineup, Talon (6.6 points per game) was challenged by Vachon. During a timeout, Vachon told Talon to shoot the ball more often. Talon responded by going 5 of 13 from the field, finishing with 12 points.

“Watching this program (as a kid) going through the championships that they have, wanting to be in this spot and finally being here is a dream come true,” Talon said. “To have the state behind us and have everyone behind us for this amazing game is a dream come true. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

The Black Bears have a 1-9 record in the NCAA Tournament. This year marks the 25th anniversary of their lone victory, in 1999, when Martina Tinklova hit two late free throws to give Maine a 60-58 victory over Stanford. The point guard of that 1999 team? Vachon, who averaged 8.1 assists for a team that finished 24-7.

UMaine Coach Amy Vachon high-fives Adrianna Smith during Friday’s win over Vermont in the America East women’s basketball championship game in Orono. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Vachon has put together one of her finest seasons, earning her fifth America East Coach of the Year award. The success also comes during an emotional stretch for Vachon, as her father, Paul Vachon – the former longtime girls’ basketball coach and athletic director at Cony High — experienced a heart attack last May, resulting in heart and kidney transplants.

“I just think this year, sometimes (the success) has to be luck, good chemistry, a lot of hard work. A lot of stuff goes into it,” Vachon said. “For us, this year, I just feel we have the team to be able to (go far), and they were able to. Those players (won the game Friday night) on the floor, we (coaches) hardly did anything. They really did it all and it was fun to watch.”

The Black Bears will learn their first-round opponent Sunday night during the NCAA Tournament selection show, which airs at 8 p.m. on ESPN.