HARRISONBURG, Va. – Maturity isn’t achieved quickly. It is an intangible that must be acquired through considerable experience.

Coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie said her University of Maine women’s basketball team showed its lack of experience and maturity over the weekend in losses to George Washington and James Madison. It was not completely unexpected as five of the players, including two starters, were seeing their first Division I action on their initial collegiate road trip.

“They need to understand that when you play away, you need to hit the court with an on-fire intensity,” Palombo said. “They’ve also learned you’ve got to let go [after a loss], move on, and be positive about the next situation.”

Freshman Katie Clark of Bangor found the trip to be tiring and frustrating, but enlightening.

“I think we learned a lot about the team and ourselves from losing and going through the games that we did,” she said. “We know how well we can play and that if we’re not focused, how bad we can play.”

The Black Bears played well in spurts, but suffered from periodic defensive lapses and failed to achieve a consistent offensive flow. Maine had more success playing man-to-man defense than it did in its 2-3 zone. Offensively, the Bears clicked in transition, but were often stagnant in the half-court game.

“I think we have all the makings of an excellent team, but right now we’re still in components, and we need to pull it together in a much more collective sense,” said Palombo, who knows the learning and maturation process will take time.

“There are no shortcuts, and we don’t plan to take any,” Palombo said. “There’s a lot of things to clean up, but it’s still been a great road trip for us. Obviously, fans want to see you win, win, win, but we want to win when it counts [in March] and we’re not going to do that unless we go through the growing pains to get there.”

Captains Stacey Porrini and Cindy Blodgett said the mental approach to the game is as important as executing on the court.

“I think the confidence is there,” Porrini said. “I think everybody knows that they have the ability individually, it’s just a matter of everybody realizing we have it as a team.”

Blodgett said the development of interpersonal relationships among the players is another important aspect of generating a winning attitude. As a captain, she wants to help hasten that process.

“A team has to be very close,” Blodgett said. “It’s early in the season, but that’s something that we stress. I do think we care about each other a great deal, we’re just working through learning how to show that to one another.”

Maine’s on-court inconsistency was magnified against the Colonials and the Dukes. Letdowns, however brief, can be devastating.

`Unfortunately, we’re not playing 40 minutes,” Palombo said. “It’s kind of rare that you do at this time of year, but if you play the kind of opponents we play and you don’t, you’re going to suffer the consequences. We’ve got to be very consistent and focused as a team to get that done.”

Blodgett said UMaine’s growing pains are hard to accept, especially when they result in losses.

“I just think it’s a growing process and we’re going to get on the same page,” Blodgett said. “It’s just tough to have to lose games in order for it to stick out and make it so apparent, because we very easily could have been 2-0 on this trip, and we’re not.”

The Bears had chances to go ahead or tie late in both games, but failed to make the clutch plays.

Porrini said the veteran players must continue to provide leadership to get the team on track.

“We’re gonna be fine,” Porrini said. “We have a long year ahead of us. I’m excited about this year. I know what we can do. Yeah, we lost two games in a row, but I know we’re gonna learn from it.”

Bear tracks…. Sophomore guard Kelly Bowman of Newport did not make the trip with the Bears. Palombo has opted to limit the travel squad to 12 players on road trips involving missed class time.

“We might rotate some people, but only when we miss school,” Palombo said. “Traveling is not automatic. It’s a little bit hard for me to justify taking 13 [players].”

Bowman likely would have missed the trip anyway, as she suffering a sprained ankle during last Wednesday’s practice. Palombo said Bowman will have the opportunity to earn a spot on the travel roster on a future trip.

“Kelly has worked very hard and has responded very well,” Palombo said. “I anticipate that she’s still going to be making trips. We might have to rotate somebody else.”