The majority of Eastern Maine’s most talented schoolgirl basketball players wind up at the University of Maine, the state’s only Division I program.

Holli Tapley is one of the rare exceptions.

Tapley, a former NEWS All-Maine selection from Calais High School, has thrived as a student-athlete at Fairfield University in Connecticut.

On Saturday, the senior will lead the 12th-seeded Stags into their NCAA Tournament first-round game against sub-regional host and No. 5 seed Utah.

The 5-foot-7 shooting guard is an integral part of coach Dianne Nolan’s Fairfield team, which posted a 25-5 record and finished as the runner-up in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this season. The Stags earned an at-large bid to the NCAAs.

“It was more of a surprise coming from the conference we’re coming from, not the caliber of team we are,” Tapley said Monday. It will be her second trip to the NCAAs, as Fairfield qualified during her freshman season in 1998.

She has been among the mainstays for Fairfield and was named to the All-MAAC First Team. Tapley is averaging 14.7 points per game on the strength of her 42 percent accuracy (81-for-195) from beyond the 3-point arc.

She has played a team-leading 34.1 minutes per contest and is averaging 5.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Tapley said the key to this year’s team is balance.

“I’m an all-around player: I get a rebound, defend; I shoot,” Tapley said. “We have five people who can score in double figures every game.”

Tapley has scored 976 career points at Fairfield, where this season she led the conference with 81 3-pointers. She has hit 206 in her career and is shooting 37 percent behind the arc for her career.

She also is shooting nearly 75 percent from the foul line as a collegian.

Last season, Tapley connected for 13.2 points per outing while averaging 5.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

At Calais, Tapley helped coach Bob McShane’s Blue Devils earn the 1997 Class C state title. She always believed she could play at the Division I level.

“[McShane] just told me to keep playing hard and it’s going to get you somewhere,” recalled Tapley, who considered attending UMaine, Old Dominion and Syracuse in addition to Fairfield.

“I had a really good feeling. [Basketball’s] been my life,” she added. “I’ve always wanted to play and I’ve never really let anything get in my way if I put my mind to it.”

Tapley was an All-Maine first-team pick as a senior, averaging 19.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 5.4 steals. She is a two-time Class C winner of the Owen Osborne Award given to the Eastern Maine Tournament Most Valuable Player (1996, ’97).

Tapley also shares the EM Class C tourney record for 3-pointers in a game (6) and holds the all-classes mark with 13 in a tournament.

Fairfield best met Tapley’s needs.

“It’s a good program,” she said. “I had some family down here in the area and the coaching staff was really nice. It seemed like the best fit.”

Tapley is studying telecommunications, English and some journalism, but hopes to pursue a professional basketball career in Europe before heading into another job field.

In the meantime, she plans to enjoy the trip to Utah for what could be her collegiate finale.

“It’s pretty special to play on ESPN. Not many kids get a chance to do that,” said Tapley, who played in Utah at the AAU National Tournament when she was 16.