Rebecca Knight is going home, or at least closer to it.
The freshman from Alfred confirmed Wednesday she is leaving the University of Maine women’s basketball program and will transfer at the end of the semester.
“I’m really close with my family and I just didn’t think it was a good fit for me up here at UMaine,” said Knight, who was a standout at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland before signing to play at UMaine for former head coach Cindy Blodgett.
Knight, one of three players from Maine on the team, has asked for and is expected to receive a release from her National Letter of Intent, which paves the way for Knight to pursue other opportunities.
Knight said she is hoping to transfer to the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, which does not offer athletic scholarships, and play for coach Gary Fifield’s highly successful Division III program.
“I’m going to be meeting with coach Fifield on Friday, have a meeting just to talk with him and see if he would like me to be part of his program,” Knight said.
Her older sister Jessica played both ice hockey and lacrosse at USM before graduating in 2010.
UMaine coach Richard Barron, who is in Italy on a recruiting trip, has been a fan of Knight since his arrival.
“We were surprised by Becca’s decision but wish her well,” Barron said by Facebook. “The staff was looking forward to working with Becca over the offseason to further develop her perimeter skills. We appreciate Becca’s hard work through out the year and wish her all the best as she pursues other options.”
Knight explained that she had a good relationship with Barron, but wasn’t enjoying the Division I experience.
“I think he was surprised, but he understood and he was really respectful about it,” Knight said.
“I really respect coach Barron in what he’s doing with the program,” she added. “We had a good talk and it’s really just not a good fit — Division I — for me, for personal reasons and I think Division III will be a better fit for me.”
Knight becomes the fourth player to depart the UMaine program since the season began last fall. The others were junior Shareka Maner and freshmen Kelsey Mattice and Amber Dillon.
Maner and Mattice were Blodgett recruits, while Dillon was invited to UMaine by Barron as a nonscholarship player.
Knight’s departure leaves freshman walk-on Courtney Anderson of Greene and junior Rachele Burns of Gorham as the only instate players on the squad.
Knight, a 5-foot-10-inch guard and forward, was a key contributor on this year’s Black Bears team that posted an 8-23 record and lost to Boston University in the quarterfinals of the America East Women’s Basketball Championship.
She appeared in 29 games for UMaine, starting in 22. She averaged 25.4 minutes per contest, averaging 4.9 points and 4.1 rebounds.
She shot 35 percent (59 for 171) from the floor and 66 percent (23 for 35) from the foul line. Knight averaged 1.5 assists and added 26 steals and eight blocked shots.
With the departure of seniors Samantha Baranowski, Brittany Williams and Samantha Wheeler, Knight’s transfer takes the UMaine women’s basketball roster down to seven players.
They are juniors Corinne Wellington, Amber Smith and Burns, sophomores Ashleigh Roberts and Ali Nalivaika and freshmen Anderson and Danielle Walczak. Among that group, Burns’ effectiveness has been hampered by the effects of four knee surgeries and Nalivaika recently underwent a second surgery on her right knee.
The late signing period for National Letters of Intent begins April 11. Barron has already received commitments from guard and forward Liz Wood of Bealeton, Va., guard Brittany Wells of Indianapolis and guard Lauren Bodine of Louisville, Ky.
1 down, 7 to go.
No knock on any of the student athletes, they came and played their best. In fact, I feel for them. This development would indeed lead us to believe that Cindy stocked the cupboards with quite a bit of D3 talent. I blame the people that assembled this collective group…
That’s a bit of a shocker, but not unexpected. The expectations and commitment may have been too much. Plus now she can play near her family. Fifield was at the UNH/UMO game, so this may have already been in the works. There’s a couple other Mainers on the squad who are D3 talent as well at this point, so maybe Fifield can hit the trifecta ;)
Nice of UM to become a D-league for D3 Useless M.
heard she was going to D2 Assumption College in Worcester mass. which is 2 hrs., still closer to home than Orono. Lots of S. Me. women have played bball there.
she’s from Alfred, which is 2 hrs from Assumption, while UMO is 2 hrs 30 mins. Nice math genius. You must be from Jonesport ;)
yes nostra it was in the works months ago Gee onder what coach Vashon thinks? im sure she would of recurited her as a D1 for maine dont you think?? Whats is it you hear we have to keep the best in maine thats all you heard when Blodgett was coach so is Barron getting the best in Maine..i really feel sorry for u nostra u are so dumb….
yeah, I’m the dumb one, Dana, as your posts sound like an 8 yr old wrote them. Then again, maybe u r 8? 10? How about 12? Yeah, that’s about right isn’t it Dana?
How old he is does not change the fact that regardless of whether you are from Maine or Italy, the head coach of Maine woman’s basketball has to get the best available player, and other than a couple of players on the current team Coach Barron can easily find better players. Cindy wasn’t capable of recruiting, Coach Barron has a past at huge programs and contacts for kids to continue playing after college, kids will want to play for him.
The story says she is going to Southern Maine but I agree Assumption’s Women’s team is solid and would have beaten any of Maine’s teams over the last 5 years. Becca got a huge amount of court time and would have been a starter getting 30 minutes a game for the next 3 years. This is a big loss for a rebuilding program and I would be surprised if there is not at least one more departure coming. I hope Barron knows what he’s doing.
7 players…3 juniors, a sophomore, and 3 freshmen…and two of the 7 with bum knees. Hope he finds some 7 foot grape stompers over there in Italy.
Maine definitely needs a D2 program, as way too many kids who are D2 talent are forced to go out of state. St Joe’s or UNE are the best candidates I would guess.
ALL Boldgett D2 Transfer team:
Kelsey Mattice – Bentley
Emily Rousseau – Stonehill
Rebecca Knight – Assumption?
Jasmine Rush – Ark-Monticello
Izzy (National JUCO POY ;) ) Diaz – Shaw Univ
Jaymie Druding W. Fla
Man, did Blodgett flatline this program or what? It’s almost as if it was an episode of the the reality show “The Mole”, and she was hired to bring the program to it’s knees ;)
And her former assistant, Justin Rees, now head coach at Lake Superior State University.
Wasn’t Vandy one of Cindy’s … I don’t know if she resurfaced anywhere as yet. If she wanted to play at another D-1 school she wouldn’t have been on a roster this year. Any info ….”all knowing one” ??
It’s going to be hard to build back up from here. They’d have to be recruiting hard to get a commitment from a number of players willing to take the chance.
ha!! nostra you are such a joke on here..I love that they are all leaving its a shame you cant see pass blodgett just maybe they dont care for your saint BARRON good go and get all he can oversears players cant wait to see the attendance you wont bring them in no matter if they win i will have the last laugh at you…just sit back and watch….your saint is a joke..blame blodgett if that makes u feel better i think theres one more that will be going..maybe you should be in italy helping out your saint….ha!!!!
The job of a division 1 coach is to win, not provide Maine kids with a place to play basketball, Barron understands that the talent in Maine can not compete at that level, the only player in Maine this year that is a D1 player was from Austria, even the girl going to BC will last 1 year and be at a D3 school
Unless the young lady going to B.C. ends up marrying an NFL quarterback( as did Ms.Marshall from the same school)
Marshall started for BC in 3 NCAA Tournaments and won more games than she lost in those tournaments….there is not a woman BB player in the state who would take an offer from UMaine over an offer from BC! ACC versus America East? America East is D3 competitively and that is why they attract D3 caliber players. There are a number of Maine HS players in D1 today…you just need to have watched Western A and B teams in order to recognize their names….they tend to try to avoid four years in the permafrost of Orono.
CASE IN POINT from PPH:
For most freshmen, the first year of playing college basketball is supposed to be one of adjustments: to life away from home and to a higher level of competition.
click image to enlargeNikki Taylor of York capped her promising freshman season at Vermont by scoring 22 points in the America East quarterfinals against Albany. She averaged 8.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.
Photos Courtesy University of Vermont
click image to enlargeKayla Burchill, a former Deering standout, was the top 3-point shooter for Vermont and plans to work on her all-around game in the offseason.
Additional Photos Below
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
For Nikki Taylor of York and Kayla Burchill of Deering High in Portland, their freshmen seasons at Vermont were a little more complicated.
Injuries forced the two into much larger roles than they imagined for the Catamounts. And while Vermont won only 10 games and was eliminated in the America East quarterfinals, Taylor and Burchill laid a foundation for future success.
“They both had great seasons in very different types of areas,” said Coach Lori Gear-McBride. “It’s so nice to have them step up for us and continue to grow and develop. I’m very excited about the future.”
What?
In the Navy they call that abandon ship
what kind of person is Barron anyway? a flaming hard as like a certain former olympic player coach that was here ? or are these kids just not D1 talent? very few from maine are ! bring peter gavett back, he can win with maine talent.
have you forgotten why peter gavett left the program?
I was of that era, and I really don’t remember. Obviously a scandal? Fill us in Haggard! Time is hard on brains exposed to abuse…
if you dont remember the 80s you wont know and i had 2 questions is barron a “hard as” like trish roberts or is the talent not there.
I didn’t believe it then don’t believe it now she was just an attention freak
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Attention freak or not, it’s a damn funny story!
her nick name was wonder woman ,she had long black hair ,and big time tan,then here was the book she was gonna write but of course never did
I certainly remember the Gavett story, but other than him resigning and receiving a full-year pension despite leaving under accusations of Sexual Harassment, I can’t recall what ever became of the story.
Does anyone remember the player’s name who accused him (she was at UM, so obviously not a minor and I assume her name was released)? Did the University ever follow-up on the claims? Was she penalized in any way for her allegations (kicked off the team, constantly benched, not given scholarship money to return, etc)?
Given the context of a high-profile sexual harassment charge against a well-liked (and successful) male coach of a women’s college team in the 1980s, the story has some really interesting sociological implications. I’d love to research it a bit more if anyone can help with some of the details above (who was the woman? Was she penalized for whistleblowing? What became of the charges or the case?).
Your question is incomprehensible. I don’t know why anyone would give you a like when we can’t understand what you are saying?
Read it again slowly the question is quite clear if your old enough to remember
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recruting trip in italy??? we are paying for this?
It’s Division I athletics. Get over it.
sorry , double entry.
I believe Rebecca has the skills to play Di basketball in the America East and she would have played big minutes the rest of her career at Orono.
The problem is that D1 basketball requires a sigificant commitment and desire to compete with the best and thus the D1 Athlete has to be able to endure significant pressures that are not present at the D3 level.The successful D1 player has to want to compete with the best , become the best and above all want to win.This requires great sacrifices that most players are not willing to provide.
Transfers out of D1 programs or to other D1 programs are common place;Umaine is not unique in this respect. The trick is to recruit players that have that commitment to compete at the highest level. Unfortunately the state of Maine has very few ,if any, high school players with the ability and commitment to play D1 basketball; and even fewer that want to continue their education in state.
Good luck in Italy!
I agree.with your comment . My understanding of D-1 to D-1 school transfers is that the person has to sit out 1 (one ) year but if you transfer , resurface at a school in the same league you have to sit out 2 ( two ) years. If you transfer to aD-2 or lower you can play the same year. The long bus trips must be very difficult (brutal ) for a freshman on a team like Maine has had .
Probably best that she leave and some other “players” as well. These girls just are not DI quality athletes. Coach Barron has quite a job ahead of him cleaning up this disaster that Blodgett left behind. Now if we could only get Whitehead out and bring in a real hockey coach…
Listen people Blodgett is gone and has been…….let’s focus on this coach. He brought in a player (Dillon). If Blodgett would have brought in a 5′ 2″ recruit you would have been all over her!! This guy is from from a saint or knowing what he’s doing!!
Coach on a Recruiting trip to Italy?? How about Moosehead Lake instead promoting Maine!! Is the University paying for that trip? No wonder it costs so much attend college.
LOL… I hope coach recruits in “Little Italy ” in NYC , Philly, Chicago and Boston .
BFD….