Difficult schedule rough on Maine

The University of Maine women’s basketball team is still looking to establish much-needed consistency and chemistry heading into a weekend road swing to Wisconsin-Green Bay and Drake (Iowa).

UMaine coach Sharon Versyp said the Black Bears (2-2) beat themselves against Marquette in the championship game of the Dead River Co. Classic, committing turnovers, failing to take the ball to the basket and not rebounding well enough overall.

“We’re not playing easy teams, we’re playing great teams,” Versyp said. “When you play Washington, Hawaii and Marquette, they’re doing the things that we normally do to win games.”

The Bears’ inconsistency has been due in part to the caliber of teams they have played. Pac-10 member Washington and Conference USA power Marquette are both quality teams off to 4-0 starts.

The trend of tough competition continues this weekend as UMaine travels to Wisconsin-Green Bay (5-0) tonight then visits Drake (1-2) on Sunday.

UMaine was ranked 58th out of 324 Division I teams in the most recent Ratings Percentage Index released by CollegeRPI.com, while America East checked in as the 11th-rated conference.

In fact, the Bears’ schedule ranks No. 33 in the nation.

The Bears expect a difficult game at UWGB, which reached the second round of the NCAAs last season. UWGB went 28-4 and was ranked as high as 16th in the country last season.

“Wisconsin-Green Bay is one of the most disciplined, fundamentally sound, unselfish, great passing and great shooting offensive teams we’ll play all year,” Versyp said.

The Phoenix are expected to test UMaine’s man-to-man defense with a patient offensive scheme adept at working for open shots. UWGB is averaging 78 points per game while shooting from the field and percent from beyond the 3-point arc.

Versyp hopes the Bears can rebound well and try to attack the Phoenix’s transition defense, which may be one of its few weaknesses. UMaine must pick up its production on the glass, where it has been outrebounded in three of its four games this season.

Drake, UMaine’s opponent Sunday, features more of a post presence than does UWGB. The Bulldogs also are more likely to push the ball up the floor.

That might enable the Bears to pick up the pace with some full-court pressure.

Ernest climbing UMaine charts

Heather Ernest of Temple continues to climb UMaine’s career scoring and rebounding charts early in her senior season.

The 6-foot-1 forward has scored 1,391 career points and needs three tonight to move past Lauree Gott into sixth place all-time for the Bears.

Ernest also eclipsed the 800-rebound mark last weekend and ranks fifth in UMaine history with 810. She is only the fifth player to score 1,000 points and pull down 800 rebounds, joining Stacey Porrini, Jamie Cassidy, Rachel Bouchard and Liz Coffin.

Better from beyond the arc

The UMaine women have demonstrated improved 3-point shooting early this season.

The Bears are averaging six 3-pointers per game and 17.8 attempts after making 3.7 and attempting 12.1 during 2002-03.

Spearheading the effort are freshman Ashley Underwood of Benton (1.8 per game) and Julie Veilleux of Augusta (1.5).

Clark, Luchini excel in Nationals

Stanford University’s Louie Luchini and Florida State’s Heather Clark have two things in common.

First, their respective cross country teams hail from warm climates. Second, they’re both from Maine.

That second fact bode well for them at the NCAA National Cross Country Championships in Cedar Falls, Iowa, last weekend. Why? Because temperatures hovered around minus-3 degrees with the wind chill.

Luchini, a senior from Ellsworth who finished sixth in the 10,000-meter race in 29 minutes, 28 seconds, helped lead his top-ranked Cardinal to a national crown, 24-174 over runner-up Wisconsin. Stanford tucked four runners in the top six and five in the top 12. Top runner Ryan Hall finished second overall in 29:15, just one second between winner Dathan Ritzenhein of Colorado.

Brewer’s Clark, a freshman for the Seminoles, earned a 185th-place finish and was sixth on the team. She toured the 6K course in 22:20. Florida State finished 18th in the team rankings with 455 points. Stanford took team honors in a close meet with Brigham Young, 120-128. North Carolina’s Shalane Flanagan was the overall winner in 19:30. Overall, 31 men’s and women’s teams and more than 500 runners participated.