Coach Ann McInerney inherited the University of Maine women’s basketball team at a difficult juncture.

That quickly became evident during the 2005-06 season as the limited Black Bears managed only a 10-19 overall record and a 5-11 America East mark. It was the program’s worst season since going 9-20 in 1993, Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s first season.

“I think with the tradition that has been built at the University of Maine and obviously taking over at an outstanding program, [we knew] that it was going to be a little bit of a rebuilding year,” McInerney said last Friday after UMaine lost to eventual league champion Hartford in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament.

The Black Bears went into the 2005-06 season needing three key players, each of whom had filled largely complementary roles within the program, to become their go-to performers.

Juniors Ashley Underwood and Bracey Barker, along with senior Abby Schrader, developed into solid performers in starting roles. But the pressure on them to perform was tremendous – as was the pressure placed on them by opposing defenses.

“We were challenging them to take on more of a leadership role,” McInerney said. “With Ashley Underwood and Bracey Barker and Abby Schrader being our big three, we pretty much knew consistently we needed great efforts from them each night and were kind of trying to fill in the [other] pieces.”

Barker, a swing player from Bar Harbor, led the way with 13.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game during the regular season. Benton’s Underwood, who was the Bears’ most improved player, averaged 13.0 points and 2.7 assists while becoming a defensive force.

“[Underwood] has been the heart and soul of our team all year on both ends of the court,” McInerney said.

Schrader, UMaine’s only senior, put up 11.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per outing but was plagued by inconsistency.

To that nucleus, UMaine added an unproven bench player in Katie Whittier of New Gloucester, who had by far her best season with the Bears (8.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg). However, she missed five weeks with a stress fracture in her foot that further hampered UMaine’s fortunes.

Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa (4.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg) demonstrated improvement while playing more minutes as Whittier’s replacement, but the squad remained limited in its frontcourt depth. Freshman Colleen Kilmurray was an occasional contributor, while classmate Brittany Boser, a post player, sat out much of the season with a stress fracture.

The Bears’ most glaring weakness was the absence of an established point guard who could provide court leadership and poise. Sophomore Margaret Elderton (5.1 ppg, 2.1 apg) was coming off knee and ankle surgery on the same leg and appeared to be slowed as she tried to regain her previous level of play.

Classmate Kris Younan was only able to give the Bears limited quality minutes as her backup.

After that, UMaine could look only to frosh shooting guard Brittany Bowen, who showed flashes of potential in a backup role. Redshirt freshman guard Ameshia Bryant was dismissed from the team during the middle of the season for undisclosed reasons.

“It was a young, inexperienced team and the challenges of getting them to believe in themselves and believe in a new coaching staff and really come through [were many],” McInerney said. “We saw it in bits and pieces, but again we were hoping that this rebuilding process was a little bit quicker.”

Despite their limitations, the Bears were tremendously competitive. McInerney instilled sound man-to-man defensive principles and UMaine threw in a trapping press and an assortment of zones in the half-court, depending on the opponent.

The team was plagued by turnovers, committing 18.6 per game, due both to inexperience at point guard and questionable decision-making across the board.

UMaine was a below-average 3-point shooting team (.298) but excellent from the foul line (.738).

The challenge for McInerney is to recruit enough of a supporting cast and develop some of the younger players to the point where Underwood, Barker, and Whittier (who will return as a graduate student after coming in as an NCAA partial qualifier) won’t be their only consistent offensive weapons.

Without quality depth, the Bears can’t expect to compete for the title in an America East conference that is, ironically, enjoying its most successful overall year in terms of its Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which is No. 10.

UMaine has not announced its recruiting class, but McInerney is hoping to bring in five players who can help restore the Bears to their position as an America East contender.