Four teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season — including three that won their first-round games — and two teams that earned berths in the WNIT tournament are among the 13 teams on the University of Maine women’s basketball team’s non-conference schedule. .
Two of the three NCAA teams that lost in the second round did so against teams that advanced to the Final Four.
Dayton went 20-12 a year ago and won the America East regular season title for the fourth time in five seasons. Albany defeated Dayman 56-47 in the America East tournament final to earn an NCAA bid.
The day took place in the WNIT, where the team lost to Boston College 69-44.
Among the teams UMaine will face this season that made the NCAA tournament last year are Kansas, Gonzaga, Princeton and the University of Massachusetts.
Kansas, which lost to Stanford in the NCAA semifinals 91-65 after defeating Georgia Tech in the NCAA tournament opener, faces the Black Bears on Nov. 25 at St. Mary’s University in Moraga, Calif. Kansas finished 21-10 last season.
Kansas has made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four in the past 10 seasons.
Gonzaga, which will host Yumin on Nov. 28 in Spokane, Wash., lost 68-59 to Louisville in the semifinals after Nebraska was eliminated.
Gonzaga has been to the NCAA Tournament 10 times in the past 15 years. The team was 28-7 a year ago.
Princeton, which was 25-5 and lost to Indiana 56-55 in the second round after ousting Kentucky, will visit Memorial Stadium in Orono on Dec. 2. Massachusetts, on November 14.
Princeton defeated the Black Bears 82-43 last season and has played in nine of the past 11 NCAA Tournaments.
UMass lost to Notre Dame 89-78 in their first round game. It was the Minutemen’s first berth since 1998.
The WNIT teams are the University of Rhode Island and Fordham University.
UMaine will travel to Kingston, Rhode Island for a game on Dec. 4 and host Fordham on Dec. 8 at The Pit.
URI went 22-7 and lost to Quinnipiac 61-50 in its first-round WNIT matchup, and Fordham went 18-11 and lost its opening-round game to Bucknell 73-64.
UMaine lost to URI 45-44 last season at the Augusta Civic Center.
The Fordham game sees the return of former Greely High star Anna DeWolfe of Cumberland Center, who is the Rams’ captain and an honorable mention All-American last season.
DeWolf averaged 17.8 points per game in 2021-22 en route to first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors. His 1,295 career points are tied for 10th in school history.
The Black Bears have three more non-conference games against teams that were on their schedule last season.
Yomin defeated Yale 47-44 last season in New Haven, Conn., and will host Yale on Nov. 19. Yale finished 16-11.
UMaine beat former Black Bear guard Macy Traversy’s West Point Army team 87-81 in double overtime and will host the Black Knights on Dec. 11. West Point Army went 16-13.
Northeastern was on their schedule but the game was canceled due to COVID-19 results in Northeastern’s schedule.
The two teams met two years ago and Yomin won 63-62. Northeast was 14-18 last season.
UMaine’s other non-conference opponents are James Madison (14-15 last season) in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 7; Niagara (15-15) at Moraga, Calif., on Nov. 26. Harvard (13-14) in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 18 and Milwaukee (15-16) in Milwaukee on Dec. 22.
“This year’s non-conference schedule is once again very challenging,” UMaine head coach Amy Vachon said. Playing tough non-conference teams will undoubtedly prepare us for our America East schedule in 2023.
The Black Bears will play 16 regular season games in the America East. Stony Brook has left the conference for the Colonial Athletic Association and Hartford has left as it continues its transition to Division III from Division I.
Bryant University has been added to give them a 9-team league.
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