ORONO, Maine — University of Maine in Orono was rocking on Wednesday for a couple of reasons.
The UMaine women's basketball team is just days away from taking on North Carolina State in the NCAA Basketball Tournament -- and on March 20, another basketball tournament came right to the university's campus.
That tournament is the Central Maine Special Olympics Basketball Tournament. More than 400 athletes came to the Memorial Field House at UMaine to compete in the action.
"It just makes your heart feel good to watch them compete with each other, and just have a good time," said Susan McCormick, whose son, Sean, competes for the Charlotte White Center team.
"They've always wanted to do this. And it just makes them feel so good about themselves," added McCormick.
Athletes competed in events including skills competitions, tradition 5 on 5, and unified basketball.
"Everybody leaves with a ribbon, a smile on their face. Our number one goal coming here is to have fun. Whether we win or lose, we have fun with a great group of people," said Wes Stonier, a coach for the Charlotte White Center team.
The Charlotte White Center team finished fourth in its bracket.
"We're a hard working group of people who love Special Olympics, who put all of their effort into playing basketball every year," added Stonier.
More Special Olympics action will be taking place at the University of Southern Maine Gorham campus on Saturday, March 23, for the Southern Maine basketball tournament.