Bears could have tough time vs. rival Vermont tonight

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Maine and Vermont have dominated America East women’s basketball in recent years, combining to win 10 of the last 11 conference championships.

Along the way, the Black Bears and Catamounts have developed a heated rivalry in their perennial battle for the top spot.

The two teams renew that rivalry tonight at 7:30 when the Bears entertain the Catamounts at Alfond Arena in Orono.

The anticipation surrounding the game may have changed slightly this season for UMaine, which clearly is in a rebuilding mode. The Bears have three freshman regulars lacking not only big-game experience, but an appreciation for the history of the Maine-Vermont game.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s 4-7 team goes into the contest hoping to use whatever extra emotion is generated by the game as a springboard into the second half of its season.

“I know that the Vermont-Maine rivalry is huge being up here in the far Northeast,” said Versyp, who will coach against Keith Cieplicki’s Catamounts for the first time. “It’s a game that’s real important for both of our programs.”

Vermont, which was picked to finish second behind Delaware in the preseason coaches poll, has held its own after the departure of two-time league player of the year Karalyn Church. The Catamounts are 6-6 this season, losing to the likes of Mississippi, Rutgers, Washington State, Kansas State and Vanderbilt.

There should be ample motivation for the Bears’ veterans, whose last encounter with Vermont was an embarrassing 77-50 loss in the America East championship game last March at Burlington, Vt. The Catamounts have beaten the Bears three straight times, a feat not achieved by any UMaine opponent in many years.

Still, several UMaine players haven’t been on the court much, or at all, against the Catamounts. For them, the focus has been on continued improvement as the season progresses.

The Bears seemed to make some strides at Virginia Tech, rallying to blow out Marshall, then hanging tough with a talented Hokies ballclub in the title game. UMaine shot a combined 47 percent from the field (52-for-110) in Virginia while knocking down 11 of 27 3-pointers (.407) and 32 of 38 free throws (.842).

Versyp’s aim is for the Bears to begin polishing their game as they approach the halfway mark of the season and to take advantage of playing in Orono before going on the road for three in a row.

“Our goal is to try to win all our home games,” Versyp said. “Our first home game right off the bat is Vermont. I think everybody will be really fired up.”

Unicel sells UM items for charity

Unicel, a longtime sponsor of University of Maine athletics, will team up with Black Bear fans to support The Coaches Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization.

Unicel is offering customers faceplates for wireless phones that feature the UMaine logo and colors. Throughout January, it will donate a portion of the proceeds from the faceplate sales to TCF, which lends support to college coaches with catastrophic illnesses.

Black Bear men’s hockey coach Shawn Walsh is being treated for renal cell carcinoma.

“Our exclusive Black Bears faceplates further Unicel’s commitment to these [UMaine athletics] programs, as well as to the good work being done by The Coaches Foundation,” Unicel vice president and general manager Ken LeFebvre said in a prepared release.

The Black Bears faceplates will be available for sale at UMaine’s Jan. 13 men’s hockey game against Boston University at Alfond Arena in Orono. The items also are available at Unicel retail stores.

Scott Lakatos lands at Rutgers

Scott Lakatos, who before resigned his position as the defensive coordinator for the University of Maine football team to take a similar position at Brown University, has made yet another move.

The 35-year-old Lakatos was announced Thursday as one of seven new assistant coaches at Division I-A Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.

Lakatos, who spent six seasons with the Black Bears, will be a defensive assistant under new Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano.

“We feel very fortunate to have Scott join our staff,” Schiano said in a release. “Scott is an excellent football coach, working with defenses and special teams, and is a tremendous recruiter.”

Lakatos, a native of Dover, N.J., was a two-way standout at West Morris Central High School, where he earned all-county defensive honors. He is a 1988 graduate of Western Connecticut State, where he was a four-year letterwinner.

He did previous coaching stints at his alma mater, then moved to Boston University and Syracuse before joining the UMaine staff.

UM’s Hodge with national team

University of Maine freshman midfielder Katie Hodge was one of 22 players invited to a training camp for the Canadian national women’s soccer team.

The camp opened Thursday and will continue through Jan. 12 at the Coliseum indoor facility at Ottawa’s Frank Clair Stadium. Hodge, who had two goals and five assists for Maine in the fall, was on the Canadian team roster for Canada’s 3-1 win over the United States in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 11 but she didn’t get to play.