WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Maine women’s basketball team made its grand exit from a hotel about two hours before playing in Saturday’s America East Conference title game.

Walking through the lobby to subdued applause and cheering – a quiet crowd per UMaine coach Sharon Versyp’s request – almost every Black Bear slapped the outstretched hand of John Einhorn, Versyp’s brother-in-law, on the way to the team bus.

Not Julie Veilleux.

The Maine senior stepped out of the line a little, away from Einhorn. She didn’t slap his hand. She walked straight ahead. Her eyes fixed on the door. Spiritual music played on her headphones.

And she tried not to think about anything but what was to come.

About four hours later, wiping away tears in the final minutes of the game against Boston University, Veilleux and fellow seniors Heather Ernest and Melissa Heon huddled together on the Maine bench, watching as the Black Bear underclassmen closed out a 68-43 victory over the Terriers.

The victory earned the Bears a berth in the NCAA Tournament against Texas Tech in the Mideast Regional at the University of Montana in Missoula on Saturday.

It was hard not to think about what these three seniors had been through: recruited by a coach who left for another job before they stepped on campus, forced to play big minutes as freshmen because of injuries to other players, more building as sophomores, a junior year that ended with two devastating postseason losses.

Those final minutes on the bench against BU on Saturday, however, the pressure – the feeling like pond scum after last year’s loss to the same team in the conference final, Veilleux would say after the game – was gone.

So how did it feel to be a UMaine senior early Saturday evening?

“It’s pretty much the best thing ever compared to last year,” Ernest said. “We remember how we felt last year, almost a year ago today. We remember that it was devastating and nobody wants to feel like that. We kind of figured, it was our turn.”

Veilleux’s all-business demeanor in the hotel was planned.

“I’m glad they were there,” she said of UMaine’s throng of fans. “But I didn’t want to celebrate. I just wanted to be focused. I didn’t want to think about anything until the game was over.”

Last year the UMaine fans gathered at the same Marriott hotel in Windsor for a pep rally as the Bears left to face BU.

Things were different this year.

Saturday morning the fans and parents of the women’s team gathered in a conference room at the hotel and watched as the Maine men lost to Vermont in their conference final. At one point Versyp came in to thank the fans for their support, and politely suggested they not make a big deal of the team’s departure for the Chase Family Arena. In fact, she told the gathering, feel free to leave without sending off the team at all.

So it was to a line of polite applause that the women walked through the lobby to the Cyr bus waiting outside. The Bears’ mindset Saturday morning was to keep the game prep as close to normal as possible.

“We decided this year we didn’t want to be waving hands and being all hoo-rah-hay,” Veilleux said. “We wanted it to be like any other game.”

But of course, it wasn’t. It meant so much to the elder Black Bears to beat BU after a 69-65 loss last year and gain the conference’s automatic berth into the tourney. It meant everything to the three seniors whose college careers were in turmoil before they graduated from high school.

Ernest had just won a Class A state title at Mt. Blue of Farmington. Veilleux was coming off an injury she suffered in her last season as a standout at Cony of Augusta. Heon was a team captain at Somersworth High in New Hampshire.

All three thought they were coming to Maine to play for Joanne Palombo-McCallie, who had recruited them and coached the Bears to their sixth-straight NCAA appearance the year before.

But Palombo announced March 27, 2000, that she had resigned to become the head coach at Michigan State.

Enter Versyp, who was hired May 15.

Veilleux didn’t know what to do. She called former Cony High and UMaine star Amy Vachon, who told her to stick with the plan and go to Maine.

Versyp, coming off an assistant coaching career at James Madison University, called the three incoming freshmen. They learned the coach had seen them play, tried to recruit them and felt like she already knew them.

And she could identify with their confusion.

“I picked up the phone and called them,” Versyp said. “When I was in college, I had three different college coaches. So I understand the fear. I understand not knowing the coach, maybe I don’t want to play for her, that type of thing.”

In the end, Ernest, Heon and Veilleux decided to honor their commitments. But their first year would be tougher than they imagined.

The Bears began preseason practices that season with 10 healthy players on an 11-player roster. Versyp even recruited Maine softball player Erica Sobel just to have some healthy bodies. The team finished with a 12-16 overall record and was 9-9 in America East. The season ended with a quarterfinal loss to Hartford, which won the tourney that year.

But there were plenty of encouraging signs. Ernest earned all-rookie and third-team all-conference honors, had a stellar freshman season, and averaged 13.9 minutes per game.

As sophomores, the three saw even more playing time. Ernest was first-team all-conference and started 26 of 28 games.

But it was Vermont that went to the tourney.

As juniors, Ernest, Heon and Veilleux led the Bears to an undefeated conference season and a 25-6 record. Ernest was named Player of the Year. But who cared? Maine lost to BU in the conference final. The Black Bears watched the Terriers hoist the championship trophy. Many of them cried during the ceremony. The team earned an NIT bid, but the emotionally spent Bears lost to Creighton at Alfond Arena.

Frustration set in. Expectations had been much different.

“Yeah, I signed a contract with the University of Maine knowing I was going to the NCAA tournament,” Heon said. “And that time passed. There were different aspects that happened and things like that.”

The Bears got back to work quickly.

The Maine team had a short break last May, and returned to the Orono campus over the summer. Teams aren’t allowed to work with their coaches so early, but the women played pickup ball and worked out together.

Rather than tire of the game and each other, the team grew. The bench improved, allowing the starters more rest than ever. The defense was sharper. Freshmen came in, added more post defense, rebounding, and clutch 3-point shooting.

It all started to come together. The Bears took a 17-1 record and the top seed into last week’s tournament. They beat New Hampshire in the quarterfinals, Albany in the semis, and avenged last year’s defeat in the finals as BU fell victim to Maine’s stifling defense and rebounding.

Sitting on the bench in the closing minutes of Saturday’s game, watching players such as juniors Kim Corbitt and Monica Peterson and freshman Katie Whittier close out the Terriers, the three seniors clutched each other, finally smiled, and wiped their eyes.

“We’ve been working for it for so long that it’s definitely bittersweet right now because we’ve been waiting for it for so long,” Heon said. ” … Different kind of tears this year.”