The University of Maine women’s basketball team was on a tremendous roll during the America East Conference season.
The Black Bears registered 14 consecutive victories before losing their regular-season finale at New Hampshire.
While coach Richard Barron’s team continued to play good defense, it appeared to lose its offensive mojo down the stretch.
Top-seeded UMaine’s offensive struggles came to the forefront during their 65-54 conference semifinal loss to No. 5 Hartford, during which the Bears shot 22-for-72 (31 percent).
The Black Bears (23-8) hope to re-establish their offensive continuity and consistency on Friday when they travel to Villanova, Pennsylvania, for a 7 p.m. Women’s National Invitation Tournament first-round game against Villanova (19-13) of the Big East Conference.
The unexpected America East tournament loss may have helped UMaine work through the tenseness of the postseason.
“We’re really taking the WNIT as an opportunity to play basketball the way we play basketball again,” said junior Liz Wood, an all-league first-team choice who was held scoreless on 0-for-9 shooting in the semifinal setback to Hartford.
“We’re seeing it as kind of a new start, relieving the pressure,” she continued. “We really have nothing to lose now, so we’re excited about getting to play again.”
Barron said the Black Bears have been working on executing their offense smoothly without succumbing to the nerves that can result from a big game.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to play looser, play more relaxed, while still being able to play within a system,” he said.
UMaine’s offensive principles, which often feature at least four players stationed near the perimeter, are similar to the offense run by the Wildcats.
Villanova, which finished third in the Big East standings and lost to DePaul in the semifinals of the league tournament, averaged 61.3 points per game and shot 35 percent from the 3-point line.
“Harry Parretta is one of the finest coaches in the country and I have copied much of what he does with his 5-out offense,” Barron said in a news release. “In many ways, we will be playing a mirror image of ourselves and this will be a game that comes down to execution and shot-making. It will be a fun game to watch and to play.”
Barron said the outcome of this matchup is likely to come down to a lot of the little things, including execution. He pointed out that Villanova ranked No. 1 in all of Division I in turnovers (8.5 per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.78-1).
“They take care of the ball better than any other team in the nation,” Barron said. “This game will be about half-court execution and who makes the hustle plays: Loose balls, offensive boards, deflections, steals.”