Underwood to play for UM women Cony basketball player gives verbal commitment

With all of the connections Ashley Underwood has to the University of Maine women’s basketball program, it makes sense that she wanted to play for the Black Bears.

Underwood, who will be a senior at Cony High of Augusta this fall, verbally committed to attend the school and join the basketball team during a phone conversation with UMaine head coach Sharon Versyp Friday morning.

“I’m wicked excited,” the 5-foot-81/2 shooting guard said Monday night after a full day of basketball camps.

Underwood said she will be considered at least a walk-on next year with the possibility of a scholarship, and the next three years will be covered by a scholarship.

Underwood visited New Hampshire and Division II Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass., during April vacation before a trip to Maine’s Orono campus.

After that visit, she decided not to look at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y.

“I loved it,” Underwood said of UMaine. “I loved the campus. I loved everything about it.”

It helped that she already has a friend in former Cony standout forward Julie Veilleux on the Black Bear team. Underwood will likely get to know Bracey Barker, the MDI point guard who also announced her commitment to Maine Friday and recently joined Underwood’s AAU team.

It doesn’t stop there. Underwood grew up in the Fairfield area, watching former UMaine basketball and Lawrence High star Cindy Blodgett as a youngster. And Underwood plays for Cony coach Paul Vachon, whose daughter Amy was a standout point guard in the late 1990s.

“Amy always coached me at camps,” Underwood said. “She was a wicked big role model for me.”

Underwood averaged 15.2 points, 4.1 assists, 3.1 steals, and two rebounds per game this season. She was 42 percent from 3-point range and broke a Cony record for 3-pointers in a game (8). Underwood also shot 78.9 percent from the free-throw line.

The Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference all-stars’ first-teamer plans to focus on a few aspects of her game in the coming months.

“I always have to improve my shooting, my off-dribble jump shot,” said Underwood, who helped lead the Rams to the Eastern Maine Class A state title this winter. “I’m not that tall [for a collegiate shooting guard] so I have to work on my quickness.”

According to NCAA rules, University of Maine coaches cannot comment on a recruit until the athlete has signed a National Letter of Intent.