American East Conference

Boston University, which lost to Maine 68-43 in the championship game of the 2004 Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Championship, received three first-place votes and had 71 points. University of Hartford, picked sixth in last year’s poll, moved up near the top of the pack, receiving 63 points and the other first place vote. Northeastern University, a team which was ranked eighth two years ago, and picked sixth last year, continues to move up the ranks, as they were picked to finish fourth in the poll.

Binghamton University (50 points), University at Albany (47), University of Vermont (35) and University of New Hampshire (29) followed. Stony Brook University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) received 18 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the poll.

Maine, which has only lost one regular-season America East game since March 2, 2002, returns two starters and nine of 14 letter winners from their 2004 championship squad. Senior point guard Kim Corbitt (5.9 ppg, 3.5 apg, 1.69 spg), the 2003 defensive player of the year, returns to run the show for Maine, while junior Abby Schrader (3.9 ppg, 3.1 apg, .53 bpg) is the other starter back for Sharon Versyp’s team.

Boston University, under first-year head coach Kelly Greenberg, hopes to get back to the title game and avenge its 68-43 loss to Maine at last year’s championship. Senior’s Adrienne Norris and Becky Bonner, both third team all-conference selections a year ago, will look to fill the void left by the departure of 60 percent of the starting lineup. Bonner is the top returning scorer (14.1 ppg) for theTerriers, and is always a threat behind the arc, connecting on 43 percent of her three-point attempts last season. Norris, a preseason all-conference selection, will look to pick up where she left off last year, as she was among the league’s top-20 players in every major statistical category. Boston U.’s arsenal also includes Katie Meinhardt, the America East Rookie of the Year, who sat out 2003-04 with a right foot injury.

Last season the Hawks recorded a school record 18 wins, and garnered the program’s first ever Associated Press Top-25 votes. Head Coach Jen Rizzotti’s club will look to get back to its 2002 form, when it made an improbable run to the America East Championship as the No. 5 seed. Rizzotti returns four of its five starters, led by preseason all-conference selection Erika Messam who led the team in points (10.9 ppg) and assists (3.83 apg). Also back is senior Liz Stich (9.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and sophomore Ikea Witt (10.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg), who is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in which she was named to the all-rookie team. Rizzotti is just seven wins shy of becoming Hartford’s all-time winningest coach.

Northeastern returns three starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s squad that finished with an overall record of 15-15. The .500 mark was the first for the Huskies since the 1999-00 season. As the No. 7 seed, NU advanced to the semifinals of the 2004 Friendship Cottage Cheese America East women’s basketball tournament. Leading the corps of returnees are junior guard Maralene Zwarich, a preseason all-conference choice, and sophomore guard Jody Burrows, a member of the America East All-Rookie Team in 2003-04.

In Head Coach Rich Conover’s first season as head coach, he guided the Bearcats to its best conference campaign in its three-year history, and in the process was honored by being named the 2003-04 coach of the year. Binghamton returns three of its five starters from a year ago, led by preseason all-conference selection Rachel Laws. Laws was an all-conference selection last year and led the team in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 ppg). Other key holdovers from last year’s starting five are junior Jen Blues (8.7 ppg) and senior Kristin Hibler (6.9 ppg).

Under the guidance of second-year coach Trina Patterson, Albany set records for Division I wins in a season (13), conference victories in a season (9), earned a No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and made it to the semifinals. Albany will look to add more wins to that record, as the Great Danes will return four starters, including preseason all-conference pick Danielle Hutcheson. The senior Hutcheson was Albany’s first-ever first team all-conference selection a year ago, leading the Great Danes in scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (9.6 rpg).

University of Vermont (14-13, 8-10), under the guidance of second-year head coach Sharon Dawley, returns a trio of forwards in Lani Boardman (12.6 ppg, 0.85 bpg), Katie McNamara (9.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.0 bpg) and Tiffany Spinka (3.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg) to make up what looks to be one of the deepest and most experienced frontcourts in the league.

University of New Hampshire returns four starters and 10 of 13 letter winners from a year ago. The returnees are led by sophomore Ray Williams (8.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg) who is coming off an impressive rookie campaign as she was named to the all-rookie team.

Stony Brook University returns a trio of sophomore starters from a year ago, led by the 2004 America East Rookie of the Year Jessica Smith. Smith was second on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg) and first in rebounding (9.0 rpg) which was also third best in the conference. Sophomore Mykeema Ford, who joined Smith on the All-Rookie team, and was the Seawolves leading scorer last season (13.3 ppg), is back along with fellow classmate Kelly Watson (7.8 ppg).