The University of Maine women’s basketball team enjoyed its best season in 10 years last winter.
With a veteran roster that includes eight seniors and all five returning starters, coach Richard Barron’s Black Bears appear to be a legitimate threat to win the America East championship.
That’s the consensus of the league’s head coaches, who picked UMaine to finish second this season in its preseason poll that was released on Wednesday.
Four-time defending champion Albany remains the favorite. Coach Kay Abrahamson Henderson’s team received six of a possible nine first-place votes and tallied 62 points.
UMaine scored 58 points, picking up two first-place votes from the coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own teams in the sampling. New Hampshire (44 points, one first-place vote), Stony Brook (40 points) and Hartford (39) completed the top five.
Rounding out the poll were Maryland Baltimore County with 34 points, followed by UMass Lowell (18), Vermont (15) and Binghamton (14).
The Black Bears, who shared the regular-season title with UAlbany, also placed two players on the preseason America East All-Conference team. Senior forward Liz Wood and junior guard Sigi Koizar were recognized along with two-time league player of the year Shereesha Richards of UAlbany and AE Sixth Player of the Year Imani Tate, along with Elizabeth Belanger of New Hampshire.
Barron, the AE Coach of the Year, directed UMaine to a 23-9 record (14-2 in AE) during 2014-15. The Black Bears reached 20 victories for the first time since the 2004-05 team, which advanced to the NCAA tournament.
UMaine, which was ranked as high as No. 19 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll, also earned a spot in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
UMaine’s bid for an NCAA tourney berth ended with a loss to host Hartford in the America East semifinals. The Black Bears build their success around their matchup zone defense, holding opponents to a league-low 54.5 points per game.
Wood, who is coming off recent knee surgery but is expected to be ready for the regular season, was named to All-America East First Team, the All-Defensive Team and was honored as the America East Co-Defensive Player of the Year. She started all 32 games and averaged 13.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 steals.
Koizar, who played her junior season of high school at Stearns High in Millinocket, continued her emergence while claiming All-America East First-Team recognition last season. She started all 32 games, posting double-figure scoring efforts in 26 of Maine’s 32 contests and averaging a team-high 14.3 points with 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
UMaine plays an exhibition game against Vanguard University on Nov. 6 in Gorham, then hosts Division II Stonehill in a Nov. 8 exhibition contest at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
UMaine opens the regular season Nov. 13 at Harvard of the Ivy League.