HAMPDEN – The best word to describe Tanna Ross’ junior year of basketball?

“Frustrating,” she said with a smile.

Ross, now a senior at Hampden Academy, can smile now that it’s all over. She’s also excited by what lies ahead.

Ross is eager to get back on the court for the Broncos after missing the entire 2005-06 season with a knee injury, and Monday afternoon at exactly 2:32 p.m. – more on that later – she signed her National Letter of Intent to play basketball at the University of Maine next year.

Signing with the Black Bears takes off a lot of pressure, especially for a player coming back from injury. Rather than push herself to prove she can still play, Ross can enjoy her senior year.

“I learned so much, patience and everything,” said Ross, a 6-footer from Newburgh. “I’m looking forward to the season now. It should be really fun.”

Ross earned tons of accolades her first two years at Hampden. She was named the Big East Conference Class A girls Player of the Year after her sophomore season.

But on Oct. 17, 2005, Ross injured her right knee in a pickup game. She had surgery last November and finally got back on the court six months later. Ross played this summer with her AAU team, the New Hampshire-based New England Crusaders.

Ross is now pain free, although at first she felt a bit slow on the court.

“I didn’t have as much confidence in myself as I should,” she said. “But it came back.”

Ross’ on-court position with the Broncos is bound to change this season. As a sophomore she became the starting point guard when then-senior guard Kim Stephenson was out with a knee injury of her own.

Hampden coach Ben Greenlaw is hoping the development of sophomore point guard Kayla Webb, who started all last season, means he can shift Ross to more of a guard-small forward role.

“We’d like her to do some scoring for us,” Greenlaw said. “We struggled offensively without her last year. I’d like to think we can move her around based on who’s guarding her and how they’re guarding her.”

Ross has already been named an East region preseason honorable mention in Street & Smith’s magazine.

Meanwhile, in southern Maine, the same exact NLI ceremony was scheduled at Biddeford High where guard Emily Rousseau was to also sign with the Black Bears.

The best friends and AAU teammates collaborated on the day and time they’d sign their letters. Ross picked Nov. 13 – her 18th birthday – and Rousseau picked the 2:32 time. Rousseau’s favorite number is 32.

A third Mainer, Mt. Blue of Farmington center Christina Mosher, signed her Letter of Intent earlier this month.

More honors for Cimino

In less than a week, Maine’s high school basketball players will start practice for the 2006-07 season.

It’s been a very busy preseason for McAuley of Portland star Ashley Cimino, however.

Cimino signed her National Letter of Intent to attend Stanford University last week, and also found her name on two lists of the top high school girls in the nation.

USA Today placed the 6-foot-3 Cimino in its Super 25 Preseason list and recruiting newsletter Blue Star Report placed her No. 16 in the nation in its Class of 2007 ranking. Those rankings were released Monday.

She was also recently named to the Street & Smith’s preseason high school fifth team.