Maine Black Bears women's basketball

The Maine Black Bears women's basketball team is the basketball team that represents University of Maine in Orono, Maine, United States. The school's team currently competes in the America East Conference.^[2]

Maine Black Bears women's basketball
2024–25 Maine Black Bears women's basketball team
University	University of Maine
Head coach	Amy Vachon (9th season)
Conference	America East
Location	Orono, Maine
Arena	Cross Insurance Center/Memorial Gym (capacity: 6,674/5,712)
Nickname	Black Bears
Colors	Maine blue, white, and navy[1]
Uniforms
Home Away
NCAA tournament round of 32
1999
NCAA tournament appearances
1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2018, 2019, 2024
Conference tournament champions
1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2018, 2019, 2024
Conference regular-season champions
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024

History

From 1985 to 2004, the Black Bears went to 15 North Atlantic Conference/America East Conference tournament championships, winning seven of them and finishing as runner-up in the other eight.^[3] During the 2017–18 and 2018–19 season Maine has won back to back America East regular season and conference tournament championships.^[4]

Postseason

NCAA Division I

Maine has made 10 appearances in the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. The combined record of the Black Bears is 1–10.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1995	#16	First Round	#1 Connecticut	L 75−105
1996	#11	First Round	#6 George Washington	L 67−83
1997	#13	First Round	#4 LSU	L 79−88
1998	#13	First Round	#4 NC State	L 64−89
1999	#10	First Round Second Round	#7 Stanford #2 Old Dominion	W 60−58 L 62−72
2000	#12	First Round	#5 North Carolina	L 57−62
2004	#13	First Round	#4 Texas Tech	L 50−60
2018	#15	First Round	#2 Texas	L 54−83
2019	#14	First Round	#3 NC State	L 51−63
2024	#15	First Round	#15 Ohio State	L 57–80

WNIT

Maine has made five appearances in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. the combined record of the Black Bears is 0–5.^[5][6]

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2003	First Round	Creighton	L 74–67
2005	First Round	West Virginia	L 74–59
2015	First Round	Villanova	L 71–60
2016	First Round	Quinnipiac	L 90–43
2022	First Round	Boston College	L 69–44

Year by year results

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason	Coaches' poll	AP poll
Peter Gavett (NAC) (1983–1988)
1983–84	Peter Gavett	16–11
1984–85	Peter Gavett	21–9	3–2
1985–86	Peter Gavett	22–7	9–3
1986–87	Peter Gavett	24–4	11–3
1987–88	Peter Gavett	23–6	12–2
Peter Gavett:		106–37 (.741)	35–10 (.778)
Trish Roberts (NAC) (1988–1992)
1988–89	Trish Roberts	19–8	13–1
1989–90	Trish Roberts	23–7	11–1
1990–91	Trish Roberts	20–8	9–1
1991–92	Trish Roberts	20–9	11–2
Trish Roberts:		82–32 (.719)	44–5 (.898)
Joanne Palombo-McCallie (America East/NAC) (1992–2000)
1992–93	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	9–20	4-10
1993–94	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	20–7	12-2
1994–95	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	24–6	14-2		NCAA First Round
1995–96	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	27–5	18-0		NCAA First Round
1996–97	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	22–8	17-1		NCAA First Round
1997–98	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	21–9	13-5		NCAA First Round
1998–99	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	24–7	17-1	1st	NCAA Second Round
1999–00	Joanne Palombo-McCallie	20–11	14-4		NCAA First Round
Joanne Palombo-McCallie:		167–73 (.696)	109–25 (.813)
Sharon Versyp (America East) (2000–2005)
2000–01	Sharon Versyp	12–16	9-9
2001–02	Sharon Versyp	16–12	9-7
2002–03	Sharon Versyp	25–6	16-0	1st
2003–04	Sharon Versyp	25–7	17-1	1st	NCAA First Round
2004–05	Sharon Versyp	20–10	16-2	1st
Sharon Versyp:		98–51 (.658)	67–19 (.779)
Ann McInerney (America East) (2005–2007)
2005–06	Ann McInerney	10–19	5-11	7th
2006–07	Ann McInerney	13–15	7-9	5th
Ann McInerney:		23–34 (.404)	12–20 (.375)
Cindy Blodgett (America East) (2007–2011)
2007–08	Cindy Blodgett	7–23	4-12	8th
2008–09	Cindy Blodgett	5–25	3-13	9th
2009–10	Cindy Blodgett	8–21	4-12	8th
2010–11	Cindy Blodgett	4–25	2-15	9th
Cindy Blodgett:		24–94 (.203)	13–52 (.200)
Richard Barron (America East) (2011–2017)
2011–12	Richard Barron	8–23	4-12	8th
2012–13	Richard Barron	4–24	3-12	9th
2013–14	Richard Barron	17–15	10-6	4th
2014–15	Richard Barron	23–9	14-2	T-1st	WNIT First Round
2015–16	Richard Barron	26–9	15-1	T-1st	WNIT First Round
2016–17	Richard Barron	18–16	9-7	4th
Richard Barron:		96–96 (.500)	55–40 (.579)
Amy Vachon (America East) (2017–present)
2017–18	Amy Vachon	23–9	13–3	T–1st	NCAA First Round
2018–19	Amy Vachon	25–8	15–1	1st	NCAA First Round
2019–20	Amy Vachon	18–14	12–4	2nd
2020–21	Amy Vachon	17–3	13–2	1st
2021–22	Amy Vachon	20–12	15–3	1st	WNIT First Round
2022–23	Amy Vachon	14–13	10–5	3rd
2023–24	Amy Vachon	24-10	14-2	1st	NCAA First Round
Amy Vachon:		117–59 (.665)	78–18 (.813)
Total:		{{{overall}}}
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion