ORONO — The UMaine-Vermont women’s basketball rivalry wasn’t born from geography, unless you consider New Hampshire neutral ground, a buffer zone that extends from the Connecticut River to the Piscataqua River.
The Black Bears and Catamounts are rivals because for decades, when it’s March, they’re typically making a deep run in the America East Conference tournament.
They are rivals simply because they always seem to get in each other’s way. It’ll happen again at 5 p.m. Friday in Vermont’s Patrick Gymnasium, when the America East championship and a spot in the NCAA tournament are on the line. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Maine’s Sarah Talon celebrates with coach Amy Vachon after the Black Bears beat Binghamton, 60-56, in an America East semifinal Monday in Orono. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)
“I think it’s always been a rivalry, even before I played, and when I played. In reality, it’s always been a rivalry,” said Maine coach Amy Vachon, who helped the Black Bears beat Vermont twice in conference finals in the 1990s.
Since the early 1990s, Maine and Vermont have set the tone for the conference, whether it was the North Atlantic Conference or America East, the name it adopted 30 years ago. Maine has 10 conference title. Vermont has eight. The rest of America East, as it’s presently constituted, has eight titles, and seven of those belong to Albany, which dominated the league with six straight crowns from 2012 through 2017.
Friday’s game is the ninth conference final between Maine (19-12) and Vermont (26-7), and the 13th time they meet in the America East tournament. The last time was two years ago, when the Catamounts came to Orono for the championship game, a 64-48 Maine win.
This is second-seeded Maine’s ninth America East final in 11 seasons, counting the one that didn’t get played six years ago. The Black Bears were on their way to Stony Brook in 2020 when they were told to turn around and go home, the game was canceled because of a new illness going around.
Friday’s game is top-seeded Vermont’s fourth straight America East final, and the Catamounts are trying to become the first team to repeat since Maine did it in 2018 and 2019.
Maine celebrates after beating Binghamton 60-56 on Monday in Orono to earn a spot in the America East championship game. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)
“They’re a great basketball team,” said Windham’s Sarah Talon, a senior guard on the Black Bears. “We’re going to see their best. We’re going to show them our best.”
This is where stats collide. The Black Bears are 8-4 in playoff games against Vermont. But Maine is also just 1-11 against the No. 1 seed in the tournament. That one win came in 1998, when Vachon was the point guard in Maine’s 81-80 win over the Catamounts. But each of those four losses to Vermont in the tournament came in a conference final.
That’s all stuff for fan’s to chew over. The Black Bears know Vermont’s Patrick Gym will be almost at loud as their home court, Memorial Gym, better known as the Pit.
“I’ve never played a championship game away, so that’s going to be a different experience,” said Maine senior forward Adrianna Smith, the conference player of the year who in two playoff games has scored 35 and 26 points and has grabbed 15 and 12 rebounds. “It’s always kind of a rivalry when you’re playing against the top seed in your conference. It’s always a great game when we play each other. They get a good crowd, and it’s loud in there. We’ve just got to stay focused. We’ve been in bigger gyms before.”
Maine’s Adrianna Smith attempts to drive past Binghamton’s Kendall Bennett during an America East semifinal Monday in Orono. Smith scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the Black Bears’ 60-56 win. (Anna Chadwick/Staff Photographer)
Smith said Vachon doesn’t share many stories about her playing days with the team. Their coach is focused on the now. What does a game played 28 years ago have to do with the now?
In the microanalysis, nothing. In the macroanalysis, everything.
“I think any time you’re fortunate to play in a championship game, it’s exciting,” Vachon said. “I think we’re playing really good basketball right now, so we’re excited for the opportunity.”
Of course they’re excited. It’s a rivalry.
