You don’t often have two teams squaring off for a conference championship on the last day of the regular season but that’s what you will have at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Memorial Gym on the University of Maine campus in Orono when the UMaine women’s basketball team will host Albany.
Both teams are 13-2 in America East so the winner will claim the regular season championship and the right to host all of its playoff games. The loser will be the second seed and will be home for at least the quarterfinals and semifinals.
UMaine and Albany will host either UMass Lowell, the New Jersey Institute of Technology or the University of New Hampshire in a Friday, March 8 quarterfinal.
UMaine’s game time will be 5 p.m.
Vermont, which shared the regular season title with Albany a year ago and beat the Great Danes 38-36 in the tournament championship game in Burlington, Vt., is 11-4 in the conference and will finish third.
The Catamounts (19-10 overall) will host sixth seed the University of Maryland Baltimore County (6-10, 10-18) in the quarterfinals and the other quarterfinal that is locked in will see fourth seed Bryant University (8-7, 15-13) entertain No. 5 Binghamton (7-8, 12-16).
“I’m sure we will have a lot of people. I’m just excited to have that last game be a good game, too,” said UMaine graduate student guard and leading scorer Anne Simon. “Both teams are good teams. We knew that before the season.
“So it’s fun that we have this one on one going at each other. Whoever has the best team is going to win,” said Simon.
“This time of year is exciting,” said UMaine head coach Amy Vachon. “Every game matters. Not that it doesn’t at the beginning of the year.
“You just really feel it,” she added. “It’s Seniors Night, we have a lot of alums coming back. There’s a lot of stuff going on. It should be a really fun day.”
Members of the 2003-04 America East championship team will be honored on the 20th anniversary of its accomplishment. That team, coached by Sharon Versyp, was led by America East Player of the Year Heather Ernest and Defensive Player of the Year Kim Corbitt along with All-AE second team selection Melissa Heon and senior Julie Veilleux.
Former Mt. Blue of Farmington star Ernest (now Heather Ernest Bond) and former Cony High of Augusta standout Veilleux (Juile Veilleux Sinclair) are being inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame on August 11 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Albany ousted UMaine from the America East playoffs a year ago in the semifinals, 72-64, in Albany.
The Great Danes won their regular season meeting on Jan. 25, 54-47, behind freshman forward Deja Evans’ 17 points, eight rebounds, six blocked shots and two assists.
Colleen Mullen’s Great Danes held conference scoring leader Simon to six points on a 3-for-13 shooting night.
Simon has scored at least 20 points in four of her last six games and is averaging 18.7 points per game along with 7.3 rebounds, 3.25 assists and 2.4 steals. Junior forward Adrianna Smith is averaging 16.2 points and a league-high 11.2 rebounds along with 4.4 assists. Senior forward Caroline Bornemann has produced 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds.
Albany, which has won eight conference games by eight points or less including four by two points, features senior guard Kayla Cooper (15.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.1 apg), graduate student forward Helene Haegerstrand (9.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and Evans (8.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg).
