UM White team edges Blue

ORONO – Trish Roberts was sitting at the press table near midcourt during the second half of Tuesday night’s annual Blue-White scrimmage when she uttered two sentences which seemingly sums up the University of Maine women’s basketball team this season.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun this season,” Roberts said. “You just never know what is going to happen.”

Some of the more notable things that happened during the White’s 59-54 defeat of the Blue team included: Sophomore center Cyndi Buetow, the girl who couldn’t seem to catch any entry passes last season, looked like a confident veteran inside the paint, tossing in 14 points and, at times, running the floor like a guard. On defense, however, the 6-foot-2 native of Cologne, Minn., was foul prone, picking up eight during the game. Both teams played tenacious defense (even if they did know the plays and cheated through anticipation) and looked quite impressive with the new run-and-jump press format, which each squad used in spurts. A number of the freshmen looked good at times, including 6-3 center Katrina Krom (12 points) and 5-10 forward Sara Philbrick, a strong inside player.

Roberts had mixed reactions.

“I really don’t like Blue-White games because everybody knows what everybody else is doing,” the fourth-year coach said. “The thing we were looking for tonight was execution and defense. Our defense is always there, but offense-wise, we’ve still got something to work on.”

The emergence of Buetow as an inside threat pleased Roberts.

“She came back this year a lot stronger and a lot better ball player,” she said. “She was a player last year that I didn’t think there was any hope for. She looks like she might be one of our premier players inside.”

“If you play against Rachel (Bouchard) all year, you’re bound to learn something,” said Buetow, who spent most of last season’s practices guarding Maine’s graduated all-time leading scorer. “I know I can play that spot this year. It’s open and that’s what I’m shooting for.”

Leading the White team was senior guard Carrie Goodhue (19 points, three 3’s), Buetow, Philbrick (nine points), senior forward Jess Carpenter (eight points), and freshman guard Erin Grealy (eight points). Sophomore guard Chris Strong was also part of the team.

For the Blue squad, senior forward Tracey Frenette led the way with 19 points while Heather Briggs had 13. Krom, freshman guard Seana Dionne, senior guard Julie Bradstreet, and freshman forward Trixie Wolf rounded out the team.

Freshman forward Rita Sullivan of Bangor did not suit for the game. She is still nursing a stress fracture in her foot.