Women’s Basketball
ALBANY at MAINE
Time, site: Sunday, 1 p.m., Cross Insurance Center, Bangor
Records: UMaine 19-9 (12-3 America East), Albany 23-5 (12-3)
Series, last meeting: tied 19-19, Albany 68-54 on 1/13/18
Key players: Maine — 6-1 G Blanca Millan (17.9 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 steals, 1.6 assists), 5-8 G Julie Brosseau (11.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.2 apg), 5-10 G Tanesha Sutton (11.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2 spg), 6-1 F Fanny Wadling (6-7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.8 apg), 5-6 G Dor Saar (5.8 ppg, 2.7 apg, 2.3 rpg), 5-8 G Parise Rossignol (4.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg); Albany — 5-11 F Jessica Fequiere (17.6 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 spg, 1.4 apg), 6-2 C Tiana-Jo Carter (11 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.2 blocks), 5-7 G Mackenzie Trpcic (9.1 ppg, 6.8 apg, 2.8 rpg), 6-0 G Bose Aiyalogbe (6.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.7 apg), 6-2 F Chyanna Canada (5.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg), 6-2 F Heather Forster (5 ppg, 4.6 rpg)
Game notes: These two teams met in the America East Tournament championship game the past two seasons with Albany winning both to run its string of consecutive AE tourney titles to six. This game will decide who claims the league’s regular-season title. The winner will take on the survivor of Wednesday’s UMass Lowell-University of Maryland Baltimore in the conference quarterfinals in Portland on Saturday while the loser will face seventh seed Vermont. Albany has won the last three meetings. Fequiere torched UMaine for 35 points and eight rebounds in the early-season win. UMaine’s Brosseau played just three minutes due to an injury. Kirsten Johnson (2.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg), UMaine’s only senior, will be honored. UMaine interim head coach Amy Vachon said Albany “really pushes the pace” so her team is going to have to control the tempo and not get into a “run-and-gun” game with the Great Danes. Carter is from Naples and is a former Lake Region High School standout. Albany is 17-0 when leading at the half.
Men’s Basketball
MAINE at ALBANY
Time, site: Saturday, 7 p.m.; SEFCU Arena, Albany, New York
Records: UMaine 6-23 (3-11 America East), UAlbany 20-9 (8-6)
Series, last meeting: UAlbany leads 22-13; UAlbany 84-66 on 1/13/18
Key players: UMaine — 5-11 G Aaron Calixte (16.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists per game), 6-6 G Isaiah White (10.3 ppg, 4.6 rebounds), 6-7 F Andrew Fleming (9.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg), 6-5 G Vernon Lowndes Jr. (6.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg); UAlbany — 6-4 G Joe Cremo (17.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.7 apg), 6-0 G David Nichols (14.9 ppg, 3.3 apg), 6-6 F Travis Charles (14.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg), 6-7 F Greg Stire (8.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg)
Game notes: The first half of UMaine’s earlier game against UAlbany may have marked the low point of the season, with the Great Danes outscoring the Black Bears 48-10. That UMaine outscored UAlbany 56-36 after intermission offers some hope for the rematch, although the undersized Black Bears face a team that leads America East and ranks 18th nationally with a rebounding margin of plus-6.4 per game. UAlbany complements that inside strength with two 1,000-point scorers in the backcourt duo of Cremo and Nichols. Cremo leads AE with his 46.7-percent 3-point shooting. UAlbany is fourth in the conference standings and has clinched a first-round home playoff game. UMaine is eighth and currently holds the final conference playoff berth, one game ahead of 2-12 Binghamton with the Black Bears holding the tiebreaker via two regular-season victories over the Bearcats. UM concludes its regular season at home against league-leading Vermont next Tuesday while Binghamton hosts 10-4 Hartford on Saturday before visiting UAlbany in its regular-season finale next Tuesday.