BOSTON – Maine women’s basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 as a No. 15 seed and will face off against No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus on Friday at 12 p.m. on ESPN. UAlbany and UVM hope to keep their seasons going in the WNIT, with contests on Thursday and Monday.
The Black Bears (24-9) took down Vermont 64-48 in the conference championship to secure the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UAlbany (25-6) will be making its third consecutive postseason appearance, traveling to battle Colgate on Thursday at 6 p.m. UVM (22-11) is postseason bound for the season straight year and will play in a WNIT second round contest on Monday evening. This marks the second time in the past three seasons that three America East programs have played in the post season.
UAlbany plays Colgate Thursday on ESPN+ while Maine will battle Ohio State Friday at 12 p.m. on ESPN.
Maine has won six straight games and 17 of 19 this season on the way to a league-record 10th conference title. The Black Bears square off against a No. 2 Ohio State team which is 25-5 overall and was the Big Ten regular season champion. The Buckeyes earned the top seed in the conference tournament but fell to No. 8 Maryland in the quarterfinals.
Ohio State is averaging 79.8 points per game this season and is led by Second-Team All-American Jacy Sheldon who is putting up 18.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 37.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Honorable Mention All-American Cotie McMahon is second on the team in scoring at 14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The team is shooting 35.2 percent from three this season with 7.6 makes per game.
The Buckeyes and Black Bears have one common opponent in Indiana. Ohio State be the Hoosiers 74-69 at home, while Maine fell 67-59 to the team in Portland, Maine. Maine led Indiana 48-45 after three quarters, before being outscored 22-11 in the final period. Anne Simon had 34 points, 11 rebounds and 5 steals in the loss.
Maine has been led all season by the dynamic duo of Anne Simon and Adrianna Smith. The two rank 1st and 2nd in the conference in both scoring and rebounding. Simon is putting up 18.8 points and 7.3 rebounds while Smith is at 16.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and a league-best 4.7 assists per game. Over the last month, Sarah Talon and Olivia Rockwood have come on strong. Talon is averaging 7.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game over that span while Rockwood at 6.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 38.1 percent from three.
Maine has one NCAA victory, taking down No. 10 Stanford in 1999.
The Great Danes enter WNIT action at 25-6 but just 3-3 over their past six games. Two of the three losses were to UVM, while the third was to Maine. UAlbany does lead the nation in scoring defense (50.9) and offensive has been led by First-Team All-Conference selection Kayla Cooper with 15.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Colgate is 18-13 and has won 7 of 9 games, but are coming off a 52-40 loss to Boston U. in the Patriot League semifinals.
Vermont earned a bye in the opening round of the WNIT with its 22-11 record and 7-3 mark over the past ten games. The Catamounts rank second in the country in scoring defense at 52.2 points per game. Emma Utterback leads the team with 14.2 points and 4.0 assists per game while Anna Olson is at 11.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest. Vermont will play the winner of Niagara (20-13, 15-5 MAAC) and Le Moyne (18-14, 14-2 NEC) on Monday night. The two teams face off on Friday at 7 p.m.
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