Skowhegan’s Jaycie Christopher looks to be UMaine women’s basketball scorer

ORONO – Jaycie Christopher had a solid freshman season for the University of Maine’s women’s basketball team a year ago. The former Skowhegan High School star, the only girl to win both the Miss Maine Basketball and Miss Maine Softball honors her senior year, averaged 20.9 minutes of playing time as a freshman and was the team’s leader in three-point shooting percentage (42.5 percent) among those who took at least 20 threes. She played in all 30 games and averaged 4.9 points and 2.3 rebounds while seeing duty at point guard and shooting guard. She had a career-high 26 points thanks to a 7-for-10 shooting performance beyond the 3-point line in an 88-60 win over Army West Point. Christopher is looking for better things this season as she and her Black Bear teammates prepare to open the season at 5:30 p.m., Monday against Quinnipiac at M & T Bank Arena in Hamden, Connecticut. “I’ve focused a lot on getting faster and stronger and becoming more explosive. Those are big things. I’ve worked on changing speeds and directions on offense,” said the 5-foot-10 Christopher. “Defensively is where I needed to improve the most. For me, it was a lot about mobility and trusting myself and having confidence that when I close out (on an opposing shooter), I’m going to keep them in front (of me).” Because All-America East point guard Alba Orois didn’t let head coach Amy Vachon know she was returning to her native Spain until June of 2022, Vachon wasn’t able to recruit a quality point guard to replace her. So Christopher spent time as a point guard in Vachon’s point-guard-by-committee approach. Christopher said she doesn’t care where she plays. “Ever since I was a kid, in our house we always talked about just being a basketball player,” said Christopher. “It doesn’t matter what position you are in on the court, point guard or post.” Christopher was a point guard at Skowhegan and she discovered when she showed up at UMaine, a lot of people can play the point. “Being able to handle the ball and handle pressure are things we work on every day,” said Christopher. She connected on 34 of her 80 three-point shots and she attributed it to “getting a lot of open looks. “With our team, we all share the ball and we (usually) make the right plays. When you get open shots, you are bound to make a high percentage of them,” said Christopher, who is Skowhegan’s all-time leading scorer with 1,561 career points. Christopher stayed in Orono until the end of May to work with her coaches and lift weights. She returned home to Skowhegan where she followed the team’s weight lifting and conditioning program, played in pickup basketball leagues and shot a lot of basketball including in her driveway where her father, Jon, would be her rebounder. Vachon said Christopher had an impressive freshman season. “The freshman year is really hard. She came in here and averaged 20 minutes a game and shot over 40 percent on her threes. That’s a pretty good freshman year,” said Vachon who expects her to emerge as a consistent point-producer. “She is a scorer. She has been a scorer her whole life. She can do that for us really well,” said Vachon. “She worked really hard in the offseason.” “I need to play with more confidence and be less tentative,” said Christopher. “I want to be able to help our team win. I want to be able to attack more and get people open shots or get myself open shots.” “She is a consistent three-point shooter. That’s what she does,” said junior forward Adrianna  Smith, the America East Player of the Year last season. “She can also be the point guard when she needs to be and she is good on the defensive end. Graduate student guard Anne Simon said Christopher “really adjusted well” to being the point guard last year. “She came back in the summer and worked on that. She does a great job as the point guard and if she’s not the point guard, she’s doing a great job shooting the ball in all areas,” Simon said. Christopher verbally committed to attend Boston University but when the coach who recruited her, Marisa Moseley, decided to leave to become the head coach at Wisconsin, Christopher decided to attend UMaine. And she is happy in Orono. “I am really grateful to get a chance to play with such amazing people. I love this team. I love our coaches,” said Christopher. “It’s so much fun getting to play in The Pit (Memorial Gym). So many people from home come up to the games. All of my family comes, a lot of my old coaches and a lot of kids from my town. “It’s really special,” said Christopher.