The University of Maine women’s basketball team will endure a challenging non-conference schedule next season, highlighted by a road contest at 2017 national runner-up Mississippi State.
Interim head coach Amy Vachon’s Black Bears will also travel to Power 5 foes Ohio State of the Big Ten Conference and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference. UMaine revealed its non-league slate on Monday.
Duke is coached by former UMaine head coach and former Brunswick High School Parade All-American Joanne P. McCallie.
Nine of UMaine’s non-conference foes played in postseason tournaments last season.
“This upcoming season will challenge us with one of the toughest non-conference schedules we have played,” Vachon said in a release.
“Five of our opponents were ranked in the top 25 in the final 2017 USA Today Coaches Poll. We continue to strive to be great and in order to do that, we believe we have to play the best. We are excited for the opportunities to test our young team early on and believe these games will prepare us well for America East play,” Vachon said.
The Black Bears tip off with an exhibition contest against Division II Stonehill on Oct. 28 before UMaine hosts its Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 10 and 11 at Memorial Gymnasium on campus.
Joining the Bears for the tourney will be Dayton, Harvard and Tulane, with UMaine taking on the Green Wave on Nov. 10 and either Harvard or Dayton the following day.
The tournament is being played in Orono due to a scheduling conflict at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor that weekend, according to UMaine
Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Tyson McHatten.
Dayton won the Atlantic 10 championship last year while Harvard compiled a 21-9 record and defeated New Hampshire in the first round of the WNIT.
Tulane also played in last winter’s WNIT, winning two game before falling to Alabama in the third round.
The tourney is followed with a home game against Bryant College on Nov. 14 and a Nov. 16 home contest against UMaine-Fort Kent.
The Black Bears’ first road trip will be to south Florida for the University of Miami tournament Nov. 24-26 that features the Hurricanes, reigning Big Ten champ Maryland, which won 32 games last year, and Kennesaw State.
A two-game swing to Ohio awaits the Bears following the Miami tournament, as they travel to Toledo on Nov. 30 and Ohio State on Dec. 3. The Buckeyes advanced to the Sweet 16 last season, falling to Notre Dame.
After a Dec. 5 home game against Division III Maine Maritime Academy of Castine, UMaine closes its non-conference slate with four road games.
It starts with a Dec. 9 contest at Dartmouth before the Bears head to Starkville, Mississippi, to face the Bulldogs, who ended UConn’s 111-game winning streak in last year’s national semifinal.
Mississippi State defeated UMaine in the Black Bears’ tournament at the Cross Insurance Center last November.
The non-conference schedule concludes with consecutive games at ACC foes Duke (Dec. 19) and Boston College (Dec. 28). McCallie’s Blue Devils fell in the second round of last year’s NCAA tourney.
The America East schedule will be announced at a later date.
