Maine women looking for turnaround

ORONO —The University of Maine women's basketball team has little nostalgia for the 2008-09 season.

But if something positive came out of the 5-25 campaign (3-13 in America East), it was that the Black Bears are willing to do whatever it takes not to relive it.

"We don't like that feeling," senior point guard Kristin Baker said. "We want to get in the gym. We want to get better. We spent the summer together working hard. A lot of people put in the time this year, so we're excited for it."

Coach Cindy Blodgett, entering her third season, acknowledges that her players will be motivated by last season, but she wants the team to move forward.

"Even if we had won 20 games, there's no reason to go back and re-visit," Blodgett said. "It's a new year. We have a completely different team."

"I think we're a completely different team this year," said sophomore forward Samantha Wheeler. "We have really good team chemistry, and that will definitely help on the court."

Blodgett said she likes the team's focus and maturity, on and off the court. The level of commitment over the summer, during which players spent six or seven weeks on campus trying to improve individually and as a group.

That group includes eight returning letter-winners and five freshmen. Picked to finish eighth in America East by the conference's coaches, the Black Bears will be looking to replace two of their top five scorers from last year.

The lynch-pin of the offense will be Baker, of Bingham. For the hard work the Black Bears put in during the off-season to pay off on the score board, Baker will need to make the offense flow smoothly.

"We tell Kristin that it's like we're adding tools to that tool box, and it makes your job as a point guard a little easier because you don't have to think so much. You get to play and react," Blodgett said.

"You want them to play," she added. "You want them to play and not think — think to a certain degree, but for the most part the thinking should be done in practice, and then the read-and-react should come during games."

The hope is that a veteran backcourt of Baker (6.4 points and 4.1 assists per game last year), fellow senior Amanda Tewksbury (5.7 ppg, 4 rpg) and junior swingman Tanna Ross (7.2 ppg) and a talented and seasoned group of sophomores can accelerate the rebuilding process.

The sophomore class includes 6-3 forward Samantha Baranowski, who was Maine's third-leading scorer as a freshman (6.6 ppg), forward Samantha Wheeler (4.3 ppg) and guards Brittany Williams and Jasmine Rush. Between them, the quartet started 53 games last year.

"I think it really helped us because we got to experience a lot more than a lot of freshmen usually get to experience," Wheeler said.

The impact of this year's freshman class has already been diminished by preseason injuries. Guard Rachele Burns of Gorham is out for the season after re-injuring her right knee in the Blue-White scrimmage. Forward Shareka Maner is also could miss the year with a shoulder injury. Ross is also nursing a broken foot suffered in September, but should return early in the season.

Maine opens its season at home against Central Connecticut State on Nov. 13. The schedule includes road games at Harvard and West Virginia, as well as the return to Orono of former coach Joanne P. McCallie with the Duke Blue Devils on Dec. 21.