The University of Maine’s women’s basketball team will descend upon the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland on Nov. 30 to face off against Gorham native Mackenzie Holmes and her Indiana Hoosier teammates.
It will be the Black Bears’ first time playing in Portland since 2019, and the first matchup between the Indiana and Maine women’s hoops teams since 2004.
UMaine will have its work cut out for it, as Holmes’ Hoosiers are coming off a 28-4 season in which they finished second overall in the NCAA Division I rankings, and went 16-2 against Big Ten opposition.
Holmes was unanimously voted first-team All-American last season, and won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The rising fifth-year averaged 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
As a high schooler at Gorham, Holmes won back-to-back Class AA state championships and was named Maine Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year her senior year.
The Black Bears are coming off a successful year as well, going 11-5 in America East and advancing to the conference semifinals.
The Black Bears will be returning all five of their starters, including the two most recent America East Players of the Year, Adrianna Smith (2022-23) and Anne Simon (2021-22). Smith, a rising junior, averaged 20 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last season.
Information on when and how to purchase tickets for the marquee matchup will be announced by the University of Maine at a later date.
