Play hard. Play together. Play smart.

That has become the mantra of the University of Maine women’s basketball team this season.

The Black Bears hope to implement that philosophy tonight when they face Hartford in a 7:30 America East contest at Alfond Arena in Orono.

Against the Hawks, coach Sharon Versyp’s team will strive to play hard, together and smart, especially on the defensive end. UMaine’s defense against Albany on Saturday was much better than in the New Hampshire game, giving Versyp reason for optimism.

“I think we got back to playing defense and that’s the focus,” said Versyp, whose Bears are 7-7 overall, 3-1 in conference action.

“The biggest thing is, we can’t get ourselves in a hole,” she said. “You’ve got to play [with] a sense of urgency, as soon as you get out of the gate.

Hartford (9-4, 3-1 AE), coached by former University of Connecticut and WNBA star Jennifer Rizzotti, comes in with a reputation as one of the league’s most tenacious defensive teams. The Hawks have surrendered a league-low 52.4 points per outing, including 49.5 ppg in conference games.

That will put further pressure on UMaine to execute well on the offensive end.

“Hartford has always been one of the best defensive teams in our conference,” said Versyp, who is relying on the Bears to set the defensive tone in the hope of getting into a good offensive rhythm.

“We’ve got to cause some turnovers and we’ve got to play good defense to run on them a little bit,” she said. “It’s getting out and playing hard.”

While Versyp looks to Kim Corbitt, Missy Traversi and Ashley Underwood to initiate the defensive pressure and intensity, the frontcourt players must control the paint like they did in the win over Albany.

Barnes also serves as babysitter

There’s always time for a little humor in the heat of battle.

During an impressive sustained forecheck in Saturday night’s 5-2 win over UMass in Amherst, Mass., the University of Maine Black Bears had an all-freshman line of Wes Clark between Billy Ryan and Rob Bellamy on the ice along with freshman defenseman Bret Tyler and senior defenseman Troy Barnes.

“When Troy came to the bench, one of the other defensemen asked me what Troy gets paid per shift for babysitting,” quipped Whitehead.

Whitehead and his coaching staff put the freshman line together for Saturday night’s game following Friday’s 2-2 tie.

“UMass had a freshman line [Dan Gordon between P.J. Fenton and Matt Burto] so we thought we could match their energy and possibly surpass it [with our own freshman line],” said Whitehead. “We wanted some more jump the second night. We didn’t have the killer instinct Friday night. And they did provide us with a lot of spark.”

Ryan, Clark and Bellamy combined for seven shots on goal with Ryan collecting five of them. They didn’t score but they weren’t on for any goals-against either.

“They had some very good shifts. They didn’t score but they generated several good chances,” said Whitehead.

Clark replaced senior center Ben Murphy between Ryan and Bellamy.

Whitehead wouldn’t speculate on his lineup for this weekend’s key home series with Boston University.

“We’ve got the flu bug going around,” said Whitehead.

He said if the all-freshman line doesn’t play together Friday, they may be together Saturday.

Maine had 11 freshmen and sophomores in the lineup both nights in Amherst.

Eight of their 12 forwards and three of their six defensemen were either sophomores or freshmen.

Elderton awaits news on knee

UMaine point guard Margaret Elderton expects today to receive a prognosis on the seriousness of the knee injury she sustained during the Bears’ Jan. 11 game at New Hampshire.

Elderton, who was just beginning to work her way into the guard rotation, injured her left knee on a drive to the basket after making a steal.

The 5-foot-6 freshman from Havertown, Pa. has appeared in 12 games for the Bears, averaging 1.8 points while providing seven assists and one steal.

“Margaret was playing great basketball and she was a big part of everything,” Versyp said.

Elderton’s absence leaves UMaine with a three-guard rotation of seniors Missy Traversi and Kim Corbitt along with sophomore Ashley Underwood of Benton.

Bryant to sit out second semester

Ameshia Bryant, another freshman guard on the UMaine women’s basketball team, will not play during the second semester for personal reasons.

Bryant, a 5-9 shooting guard from Miami, is still attending classes at UMaine and remains a member of the squad.

“She’s taking care of some personal things,” Versyp said of Bryant, who went home early for the semester break.

Bryant has not appeared in a regular-season game for the Bears, which means she could redshirt and retain four years of NCAA eligibility.