By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

These are both fun and frustrating times for small-college women’s basketball enthusiasts in Maine.

Fun, because three of the top half-dozen programs in the country last winter competitively coexisted here in our backyard. All three promise to be as good, maybe better, by the end of the 2005-06 campaign that tips off Friday night.

Frustrating, because the situation is a little bit like having three heavyweight champions, sanctioned by different alphabetical associations, with few assurances that we’ll see them square off in anything but a fistful of non-title bouts.

College hoops kick off in earnest Friday night and Saturday afternoon with the traditional flurry of season-opening tournaments. Then, next Tuesday evening, Bates College drops in on No. 1 University of Southern Maine for a non-conference clash that probably won’t be a fair representation of what we should expect from either team in February or March.

One week later, Bowdoin pays its own premature visit to USM’s Hill Gymnasium.

“It’s difficult for both us and for USM to find a day that works for us to play each other,”explained Bates coach Jim Murphy.

Problem is, Bates and Bowdoin are bound to a busy New England Small College Athletic Conference schedule. Due to NESCAC’s staunch academics-first stand, member schools try to avoid road trips on a school night.

USM is similarly stuck to its busy Little East Conference slate. Plus, there’s the matter of a month-long winter recess and traditional, team-building trips to warmer climates during the holiday season. Bates, for instance, is headed for Las Vegas in December.

So the Bobcats will meet Mount Holyoke in the Brandeis Tip-Off Tournament this Friday, play a championship or consolation game Saturday, then face the nation’s top-ranked team three nights later.

Further complicating that quirk in the schedule was Bates’ journey to the NCAA Division III soccer tournament, one that ended Sunday with a loss to rival Tufts.

“To top it off, the woman who is arguably our best soccer player (6-foot-1 junior center Meg Coffin) also is our best basketball player,” Murphy said.

Murphy and assistant coach Carla Flaherty were in charge of the soccer team, too, juggling practices and game plans for both squads.

“It actually worked out pretty well,” said Murphy. “Our soccer team would practice until dark, and basketball practice didn’t start in the gym until 7 o’clock. At least we all had a chance to get warm and get a bite to eat.”

Last winter, the early encounter was in Lewiston. The Bobcats blasted the Huskies, 62-37.

USM quickly found its identity and went on a school-record 28-game winning streak that took the Huskies all the way to the Final Four. Along the way, USM staved off Bates, 67-64, in an overtime classic at a Sweet 16 tournament game played in Gorham.

The Huskies may have the upper hand for now with all five starters returning. The presence of Auburn’s Megan Myles (13.7 points, 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior), Ashley Marble (14.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg) and guards Katie Frost, Donna Cowing and Katie Sibley persuaded Women’s Division III News to name the Huskies its preseason No. 1.

“It’s an honor (and a) testament to the tradition of success that the program has had over the last 25 years,” USM coach Gary Fifield said of the ranking in a preseason press release. “To be picked as the No. 1 team out of over 400 Division III women’s basketball teams shows a great deal of respect for this year’s team as well as the history of the program.”

Bates hopes that Coffin (12 ppg, 7 rpg) will step up to replace the leadership of graduated NESCAC Player of the Year Olivia Zurek.

The Bobcats already welcomed back NESCAC Co-Rookie of the Year Sarah Barton. In an interesting twist, they also gained Matia Kostakis, the 6-foot forward who shared that award with Barton. Kostakis transferred from Amherst.

Five-time reigning NESCAC champion Bowdoin is a favorite to retain the crown thanks to the return of most of its top players, including junior Eileen Flaherty (15.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg) and do-everything senior Justine Pouravelis, who was named the conference’s premier defensive player last season. The Polar Bears lost in their fourth straight trip to the Elite Eight after reaching the title game in 2004. A strong freshman class includes Dirigo High School graduate Alexa Kaubris.

Fans won’t be cheated out of two timely Bates-Bowdoin games, and perhaps a third. Their regular-season contests are scheduled for Jan. 13 in Lewiston and Jan. 31 in Brunswick, with the NESCAC semifinals and finals slated for Feb. 25-26.

Maine placed a fourth school in the Division III tourney last season, and Maine Maritime and the University of Maine at Farmington lead the list of candidates to secure the automatic bid from the North Atlantic Conference.

Another Dirigo product, Alyssa Burns, combines with fellow juniors Michelle Gott and Julia Knights to lead the Mariners, who stubbornly challenged USM before falling 83-67 in an NCAA first-round game a year ago. Kari Simpson, also a junior forward, returns to Farmington after leading the Beavers in five offensive categories.