Women’s basketball

MAINE vs. VERMONT

Time, site: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Alfond Arena, Orono

Records: Maine 5-6 (1-0 America East); Vermont 5-5 (1-0)

Series, last meeting: Maine leads 44-19, Vermont 76-66 on 2/28/04

Key players: Maine – 5-7 G Missy Traversi (12.9 ppg, .375 3-pt. FG pct., 2.6 apg), 6-1 F Bracey Barker (9.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, .824 FT pct.), 6-0 F Monica Peterson (9.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, .476 FG pct.), 5-7 G Kim Corbitt (7.7 ppg, 4.4 apg), 5-9 G Ashley Underwood (8.1 ppg, .897 FT pct.), 6-3 C Abby Schrader (7.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg); Vermont – 6-1 F Lani Boardman (16.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.9 apg), 6-1 F Katie McNamara (11.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, .813 FT pct), 5-10 G Ashley Cuncic (8.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg), 5-8 G Chrissy Battram (7.7 ppg, 3.1 apg), 5-10 F Tiffany Spinka (6.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg)

Outlook: The Bears return to Orono for only their fifth home game of the season and their first in three weeks. UMaine, which beat Binghamton 73-56 in Wednesday’s league opener, faces a Vermont team that beat Northeastern 75-52 in its AE debut. The Bears have demonstrated good offensive balance but, more importantly, must be cohesive on defense and control the boards. The Catamounts have good inside-outside scoring balance and have a knack for scoring second-chance points, so there is pressure on UMaine’s post players to box out and rebound hard. UMaine also looks to capitalize on fast-break chances.

Men’s basketball

MAINE vs. VERMONT

Time, site: Saturday, 1 p.m.; Patrick Gym, Burlington, Vt.

Records: Maine 7-5 (2-1 America East); Vermont 7-3 (3-0)

Series, last meeting: Maine leads 65-43, Vermont 72-53 on 3/13/04

Key players: Maine – 6-2 G Ernest Turner (13.6 ppg, 3.1 apg), 6-2 G Kevin Reed (11.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg), 6-11 F Mark Flavin (8.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg), 6-7 G-F Joe Campbell (7.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg), 6-4 G-F Jermaine Jackson (7.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg), 6-3 G Chris Bruff (3.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg); Vermont – 6-9 F Taylor Coppenrath (26.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.5 apg), 5-11 G T.J. Sorrentine (17.4 ppg, 4.9 apg, 3.1 rpg), 6-5 G David Hehn (5.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg), 6-4 F Germain Njila (5.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg), 6-8 F Martin Klimes (4.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg)

Outlook: This is the rematch of the AE title game in which Coppenrath scored 43 and led Vermont to its second straight title. Another hand/wrist injury figures prominently in this game with Maine point guard and senior captain Chris Markwood out with a broken left hand. The Catamounts are big, athletic, talented, battle-tested, veteran players. Beating them on their home court would be Maine’s biggest win this season. Coppenrath is a matchup problem the Bears couldn’t solve last year, but Flavin was injured and severely limited in the title game. Maine must solve its point guard problem fast and find a way to slow Coppenrath or Vermont’s five-game win streak over UMaine will become six.