The University of Maine women’s basketball team finds itself in a somewhat familiar position this week as it approaches the halfway mark of the 1999-2000 America East season.

Coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s Black Bears are 11-6, having won seven in a row, and they lead the conference with a 7-1 record.

The most noticeable difference is the way UMaine has worked its way to the top.

The Bears have made a habit in recent years of breezing through the majority of their America East schedule. Last season, when UMaine went 17-1 in league play, its average margin of victory was 19.9 points.

This season, the Bears have had a much more difficult time of it. UMaine’s average winning margin this season is 8.9 points.

Palombo attributes the difference to a variety of factors.

The first is the improved caliber of league opponents. Palombo points to the fact a veteran New Hampshire team, one picked to finish third in the preseason coaches poll, already has lost five league games.

“The conference is a lot better this year. There’s a lot more parity and teams are playing better,” Palombo said.

Although each of the 10 America East teams have 10 games left, seven of them already have four conference losses and only Maine and Vermont have fewer than three.

Palombo prefers to concentrate on the elements the Bears can control. Two aspects that have been inconsistent are the Bears’ defense and their rebounding.

“I think we have been slow to really establish our defense the way that we need to, especially on the interior,” said Palombo, who cited injuries to Martina Tinklova, Katie Clark, Christy Grover and Eva Moldre as having slowed the team’s progress.

“We just need the aggressiveness, the desire to play great defense,” Palombo said. “It’s coming, but it’s been slow to develop.”

Palombo’s other pet peeve is rebounding. UMaine is averaging 4.1 fewer rebounds than at the same point last season, while opponents have improved their output by 1.1 per game.

“We shot 51 percent [Sunday] against Hofstra. Every shot we missed, we never even got close to [the rebounds],” Palombo said. “What if we get 10 of those?”

The Bears’ propensity for allowing offensive rebounds by opponents, and UMaine’s inability to get second shots for itself, have been problematic.

“We’re still giving up far too many offensive rebounds,” Palombo said. “We need to show aggressiveness and willingness to go for the ball.”

UMaine continues to look for more production from its frontcourt, where freshmen Anna James and Grover have been backing up Jamie Cassidy and Tinklova.

Slow climb up the RPI

The UMaine women continue to make a slow climb up the unofficial Rating Percentage Index (RPI) rankings compiled by the Collegiate Basketball News and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, respectively.

Through Sunday, the Bears ranked 57th in the CBN poll and their schedule was rated the 58th toughest among 315 Division I schools. UMaine is No. 56 in the WBCA rankings, 59th in strength of schedule.

The official RPI compiled by the NCAA, which is not released to the public, is used by the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee to help select at-large teams and seed all teams for the 64-team NCAA Tournament.

UMaine’s closest America East rival in the RPI is Vermont, which is No. 70 in the CBN and 73rd in the WBCA rankings. The Bears have benefited from their outstanding non-league schedule.

Georgia ranks No. 3 in both the Collegiate Basketball News listing and the WBCA report, while Boston College is 11th and 13th, respectively. Other non-league opponents and their rankings include Southwest Missouri State (24, 28), Western Kentucky (38, 39), St. Francis (88, 87), Rice (99, 100), Northwestern (171, 155) and Rhode Island (286, 287).

UM-Fort Kent continues rise

The University of Maine-Fort Kent men’s basketball team continued its rise up the national chart this week as the Bengals were mentioned just one slot out of the top 25 in the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association weekly poll.

Coach Derek Johnson’s Bengals received the 26th most votes in the NAIA’s Division II rankings. The showing was three slots better than the Bengals fared last week.

UM-Fort Kent received 38 points in the decending-scale voting that rewards a team with 25 points for a first-place vote, down to one point for a 25th-place vote. UM-Farmington was the only other Maine team to receive mention; they picked up two points.

The 15-3 Bengals also rank high in some individual and team statistical categories.

The Bengals are shooting a sizzling 58.7 percent from the floor and lead the nation in team field goal percentage. They’re second in the land in 3-point field goal percentage (42.9 percent), fifth in rebounding margin (plus 11.25 points per game), and ninth in scoring margin (plus 14.25).

Point guard Drazen Jozic is tied for first in the nation in assists per game with 8.88.

Rival UM-Presque Isle’s Jeffrey Joseph is the second-leading rebounder in the country with 13.4 boards per contest and recently scored his 1,000th point.

A group of Maine players dot the national scoring list:

UMF senior Daren Meader, who reached the 1,500-point plateau on Jan. 19, is in 19th place (21.1 ppg), one slot ahead of Thomas College junior Scott Raymond. Raymond is averaging 21.1 ppg and recently reached the 1,000-point plateau.

UMFK hosts Bradford Saturday at 4 p.m.