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The University of Maine women’s basketball team finished the 2003-2004 season with a 25-7 record. It marked the second straight year that the Black Bears won 25 games in a season, a streak that Maine had never before accomplished. In addition to their 25-win season, the Black Bears won the America East regular season title for their second straight season. For the first time since 1998, they won the America East tournament that gave them an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They were given a 13 seed in the Mideast bracket. Maine came up just short in Missoula, Mon. against the No. 4 seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders.
The Lady Black Bears were led by their three seniors, forward Heather Ernest from Temple, forward Julie Veilleux from Augusta, and guard Melissa Heon from Somersworth, N.H. Veilleux averaged 7.5 points for the Black Bears; Heon averaged 10.6 points per game and led the team in minutes played. Ernest was named America East player of the year for the second straight season, averaging 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
“You can look at all the statistics and everything that they’ve done for the past four years,” said head coach Sharon Versyp, who has just finished her fourth season at Maine. “What they’ve done for the program and the type of people that they are speaks more than the stats.”
Ernest, a graduate of Mt. Blue High School where she led her team to a state championship, has had a large role at Maine all four years that she has been here. The last player to win two consecutive Player of the Year awards was Cindy Blodgett in 1996 and 1997. In addition to her Player of the Year awards, Ernest has been a four-time All-America East first -team selection. She was named the America East conference championship tournament Most Valuable Player this season as well. She is a member of Maine’s 1,000 point/1,000 rebound club with 1,801 points and 1,032 rebounds in her career at Maine.
“She’s worked very hard,” Versyp said. “She really did a lot to improve herself. She also taught a lot of the younger players, especially in the post how to be tougher.
Veilleux was the only senior to start all 31 games for Maine season. She has played in every game since her arrival in Orono.
When Heon scored in double figures, Maine was 18-1. She was the emotional leader on the court and led the team in assists. The bottom line for the Lady Black Bears, however, is their accomplishment as a team.
“It was an unbelievable season,” said Versyp. “Not many programs can go 25 wins back-to-back each year.”
Next year the Black Bears will play a very tough non-conference schedule that includes teams such as Rider, Florida State, Iowa, Mississippi State and Michigan. A solid group of players are returning to the team next year. Freshman Ashley Underwood seems to be the natural fit to fill Heon’s place at guard. Maine’s key seniors next year will be forward Monica Peterson, and guards Kim Corbitt and Missy Traversi. Traversi scored 20 points in the game against Texas Tech, while Peterson scored 15. Freshman Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa shows great potential and Abby Schrader will most likely be the team’s center. Add Nicole Jay, Katie Whittier, Andrea Gay, Katherine Quackenbush, and Bracey Barker coming off the bench as well as the three incoming freshman, all guards, and Maine could be very good.
“I think next year we’ll be a very good team,” Versyp said. “We’ll just be different.”
Although the Red Raiders keyed in on Maine’s three seniors and held them to eight points combined, Maine still nearly upset Texas Tech, the 14th-ranked team in the country. Traversi and Peterson helped lead the way in a Black Bear effort that just fell short. Next season, Maine will be a different team, and their conference will be even more competitive with teams like Vermont, Boston University and Hartford, all looking strong as usual. However, next year’s team will have something that this year’s team did not have: NCAA tournament experience.
