Bears hope to build on tourney win Major challenges remain before women’s basketball team begins AE play

With the Dead River Co. Classic championship trophy securely in its hands for the first time in nine years, the University of Maine women’s basketball team hopes the performance will propel the Black Bears into the second half of their nonleague schedule.

Coach Sharon Versyp’s Bears, who went 0-3 to open the season for the first time since 1992, responded with wins over Loyola of Chicago and St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia at Alfond Arena in Orono.

UMaine takes a 2-3 record into Saturday’s game at the University of Buffalo and hopes to keep its win streak going.

“Right now, we’re feeling good about ourselves, feeling confident, coming back for two wins,” said senior captain Missy Traversi, who was named the Dead River MVP after averaging 15.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals.

“Now we go and play Buffalo on the road and we take that confidence into the next game. This weekend really helped us in a lot of ways,” she added.

The Bears still have some testy nonconference games coming up, including home contests against Big Ten members Indiana (Dec. 10) and Michigan (Dec. 18), along with a first-round matchup against host Montana (Dec. 28) in the Lady Griz Holiday Tourney.

Bears building balance, depth

One aspect UMaine hopes to continue developing is its depth. Traversi, Kim Corbitt, Monica Peterson and Bracey Barker of Bar Harbor have started all five games, with Abby Schrader and Benton’s Ashley Underwood accounting for most of the other significant minutes.

Versyp used only seven players, including one minute from freshman point guard Margaret Elderton, in Saturday’s win over St. Joseph’s.

“Things were just clicking and then I didn’t just want to all of a sudden make an adjustment when they were feeling really comfortable and doing some good things,” Versyp said.

She also pointed to the personnel matchups against the Hawks favoring a smaller lineup, which kept Bears forwards Nicole Jay, Katie Whittier and Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa on the bench.

As expected, UMaine has exhibited good scoring balance so far this season. Traversi leads the way with 12.4 points per game, followed by senior swing player Peterson at 10.8 ppg. After that, small forward Barker (7.4), post player Schrader (7.2), point guard Corbitt (7.0) and shooting guard Underwood (6.0) are all contributing regularly.

One of the Bears’ weaknesses thus far has been its 3-point shooting. They have connected on only 27 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.

Bracey Barker, come on down

One of the players who has emerged as an up-and-comer for UMaine is Barker. The 6-foot-1 sophomore, who spent most of her career at Mount Desert Island High School as a point guard and saw limited action as a swing player last season, is developing her skills as a post player.

“She needs to build some confidence at the 4 spot and I don’t think she built a lot those first three games,” Versyp said of Barker, who averaged 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the Dead River Classic.

Barker’s play caught the eye of St. Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin.

“In the second half, [Barker] really busted us a couple times as far as getting the short-corner pass and then she made a couple layups and good passes to really expose a little bit of our weakness there,” Griffin said after Saturday’s game.

While Barker is still adjusting to the physicality of the inside game, she ranks third on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game and is among the Bears’ top free-throw shooters at 85.7 percent (12-for-14).

“She’s a big key if we’re going to be successful or not,” Versyp said. “With her being able to shoot the outside, shot, go one-on-one, being a great passer, the sooner she really gets things going, the better we’re going to be.”

Bates women heading to Estonia

The Bates College women’s ice hockey club team will represent the United States at the Baltic Blast and Thanksgiving Day Tournament in Estonia.

Play begins Saturday.

“The team is very excited, not only to compete at the international level but also, for most of us, to experience a new culture,” said Bates captain Heather Bracken in a press release.

There also will be teams from Great Britain, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Finland and Sweden. They will be divided into two four-team pools and will play a round-robin format to determine seedings for single-elimination play.

Bates players have been selling hockey jerseys, T-shirts and jewelry on their Web site to raise funds for the trip.