Rousseau in verbal commitment to UM women’s basketball

The University of Maine women’s basketball team received another verbal commitment for the 2007-08 season Tuesday when Biddeford High point guard Emily Rousseau told the Black Bear coaching staff she will head to Orono next year.

Rousseau, the third Mainer to commit this year, said she will receive a full scholarship.

The 5-foot-9 Bangor Daily News All-Maine second-team pick said she chose Maine over Lehigh and Holy Cross. Her decision came down to the visits she made to Orono.

Rousseau made an unofficial trip this spring and was on campus last weekend for her official visit.

“I met the coaches and the girls on the team, and I really liked everybody,” she said. “I just wanted to wait and see all my options.”

Rousseau led the Southern Maine Activities Association in scoring both her sophomore and junior years. She averaged 19.9 points per game in the 2005-06 season to go with 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.8 steals per game in addition to 75 percent free-throw shooting and 35 percent 3-point shooting.

She was named to the SMAA all-conference first team.

Rousseau, who will join Maine standouts Tanna Ross (Hampden Academy) and Christina Mosher (Mt. Blue of Farmington) at Maine next year, has been working on her speed and strength to prepare for the rigors of Division I basketball.

Biddeford coach Ron Cote said Rousseau is a versatile player.

“I think she makes everyone on the team better,” he said. “She’s a good ballhandler, a good passer, and she was our leading scorer as the point guard so she can shoot the ball, too.”

Rousseau was the catcher on the Tigers’ Class A state championship softball team this spring.

Rousseau follows in the footsteps of Biddeford’s Heather Briggs, who scored 1,176 points and tallied 663 rebounds at Maine from 1989 to 1993.

New Hampshire players Tonya Young, who along with Ross is an AAU teammate of Rousseau’s on the New England Crusaders, and Magdala Johnson have also committed to Maine.

Rousseau will have family nearby. Her aunt and uncle, Janet and Steven Boucouvalas, live in Old Town and her cousin, Michael Boucouvalas, is a junior at Maine.

Black Bears coach Ann McInerney cannot comment on recruits until they sign a National Letter of Intent.

The eligibility of all student-athletes is contingent upon admission to the university and compliance with all NCAA rules, including registration with the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Hunter joins ice hockey staff

Former Niagara women’s ice hockey assistant coach Meghan Hunter will serve as a University of Maine assistant coach this winter, interim head coach Lauren Steblen announced.

Hunter was twice a second-team All-America and first-team All-WCHA player while at the University of Wisconsin.

In her first season at Wisconsin, she was a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented to the top women’s college hockey player in the nation, after leading the nation in scoring with 78 points in 35 games. She was the WCHA Rookie of the Year.

Hunter was a volunteer assistant at Wisconsin during the 2004-05 season. She spent one season at Niagara.