The cold March wind and the snowbanks quickly brought the University of Maine women’s basketball team back to reality as they rejoined the academic world on Monday.

But their 88-79 loss to ninth-ranked Louisiana State UniversiNCAA Tournament opener in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday night has left them hurting. It is the third consecutive year Maine has been ousted in the first round although the Bears keep inching closer to victory.

“It’s definitely eating at me and it will for a little while,” said junior guard Sandi Carver. “Hopefully, with time, it’ll take the pain away.

“It’s very frustrating. I’m a little bummed. I know we could have won the game. Everyone on the team knows that. It was hard going back to class today. We aren’t supposed to be here. We’re supposed to be in Baton Rouge getting ready for a game,” she added.

“It’s hard,” said senior center Stacey Porrini. “You watch [ESPN’s] SportsCenter and other TV shows and see the list of teams still in it and you want to be there [on that list]. People say `Good job’ and `You hung tough.’ They mean well but it still doesn’t take that loss away. We knew we could have won that game. We know we can play with the best teams in the country.”

Freshman forward Jamie Cassidy said it was the type of loss that lingers.

Maine trailed by just two with 1:23 left.

“You think about things that could have happened, things that should have happened. It’s tough to come so close and lose like that,” said Cassidy, who had 24 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

Carver said one source of frustration was the fact the Bears didn’t play their best.

“Anybody who has seen us play knows we didn’t play like we can. If we had, we would have won,” said Carver. “It wasn’t from a lack of trying. But we had to play a different type of game. We’re used to playing more of an uptempo, full-court [press] type of game. But we had to try to slow the ball down because they were very quick. We did it effectively but it wasn’t the type of game we play.”

The Bears sincerely felt they could beat LSU. The fact No. 12 Marquette upset No. 5 Clemson for the right to play LSU makes the loss even tougher.

“We know we had a good chance to beat either Marquette or Clemson,” Cassidy said.

They also said they feel they’re closing the gap between themselves and the elite and are gradually earning more respect. But that’s a small consolation.

“We still need to win [an NCAA tournament game] to really get respect,” said All-American guard Cindy Blodgett, who had a game-high 34 points.

“We’ve got to start winning some big games at the beginning of the year,” said Carver referring to the nationally ranked teams on their schedule.

Maine has four games next season against teams that were ranked in the top 25 this year: the University of Connecticut, Stanford, Wisconsin and Western Kentucky. UConn and Stanford are still alive in the NCAA tourney; Western Kentucky got eliminated by Arizona and Wisconsin didn’t make it.

“We’re going to have to work our hardest in the offseason, think about how we felt after the game and use that,” said Cassidy.

Carver said the loss to LSU will serve as motivation for them.

“All of the freshmen will have a year of experience and that will help us,” said Blodgett. “Coach has given us a real tough non-conference schedule and that should also help.”