SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Bill Libby and his family left for Springfield College about 6 a.m. Friday on a trip they’ve been planning since October.

In anticipation of the University of Southern Maine women’s basketball team making it to the Final Four of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament, the Orono resident made hotel reservations last fall. He locked in 10 rooms at a relatively inexpensive rate and ended up using eight of them.

Libby and wife Diann, whose daughters Jess and Kati both played for Gary Fifield at USM, would have come down regardless of whether the Huskies advanced to the Final Four.

“We figured they were going to be part of it. Hopefully, they would be. And Gary and I have been friends for years,” said Bill Libby, who like Fifield is a Vermont native. “I would have still come down [if USM hadn’t advanced]. Anytime you see a sport get to its final leg, it’s fun to see it. I think there are 413 Division III schools in the country, and USM is one of four left.”

Now the Huskies are one of two teams left. They beat Hardin-Simmons of Abilene, Texas, 74-65 for a berth in the national title game at 3 p.m. today. USM will face Hope College of Holland, Mich.

The Libbys – minus Kati Libby, who is now living in Seattle – and crew are staying at a Best Western in West Springfield. The group staying there includes a host of USM administrators, among them president Richard Pattenaude, vice president of student development Craig Hutchinson, dean of student life Joe Austin and his wife Nancy, an associate professor of teacher education, and Bill Libby’s sister-in-law Denise Nelson, who is the head of residential life, and her husband, Steven Nelson, who works in student affairs.

Bob Neal, a New Sharon resident who is a big University of Maine women’s basketball supporter, also secured a room through Libby.

“He heard we had those rooms, so he wanted to get in with us, too,” Libby said.

Blanchard gets kick as coach

USM volunteer assistant coach Brianna Blanchard wasn’t at the Huskies’ first-round NCAA game against Maine Maritime Academy on March 3.

But it was an excused absence. Blanchard, a former Presque Isle High standout, worked it out with head coach Gary Fifield that she could instead attend the high school Class B state championship game at the Bangor Auditorium, where the Wildcats beat Lake Region of Naples for the title. Blanchard was a member of the last PI team to win a state title in 1997 and served as an assistant coach to Wildcat coach Jeff Hudson last year.

“That was kind of understood that if [Presque Isle] made it that far, I would be at that game,” Blanchard said after USM’s win over Hardin-Simmons. “They’re as much my girls as these girls are. They’ve been keeping me up-to-date on their season all year.”

Blanchard sat in the Auditorium stands with such former PI stars as Anna Delong, Tasha Deschene and Blanchard’s sister, Billie.

“This has been awesome, to be involved in this,” Blanchard said. “I can’t believe this. And the Presque Isle girls in the states, that’s the coolest.”

Blanchard has more than a few connections to this year’s USM team. She played against backup guard Lindsey Welch, who attended Nokomis of Newport. In fact, Blanchard’s Presque Isle team beat Welch’s Nokomis team in the 2000 Eastern Maine Class A tournament. Blanchard was a senior on that team and Welch was a freshman – and it was the last tourney game the Wildcats won until their run in Class B this year.

Welch graduated from high school the same year as Billie Blanchard. Brianna Blanchard knew current USM starters Megan Myles of Auburn and Katie Frost of Calais and knew of Topsfield native Ashley Marble.

Blanchard is the only woman on the Huskies’ five-member coaching staff. She’s also in graduate school full time, pursuing a dual degree in rehab counseling and clinical and mental health counseling, and she’s a graduate assistant and teaching assistant.

“I enjoy coaching, but it’s not my ultimate goal,” she said. “This is the fun part.”