ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine women's basketball team is moving on to the America East finals for the sixth year in a row after a 67-47 win against the University of Albany Great Danes on Sunday.
"You can never take it for granted, and we never do. We respect every opponent," Maine head coach Amy Vachon said in a Zoom press conference after the game.
She said the culture of winning for the Black Bears came before she took over the program so she and her team play for those who came before them and never got a chance to win a conference championship.
"That's the expectation now at Maine is to win championships and while we understand it's not easy and it's not handed to you, that's what our players expect and that's what we play for every year," she said.
The Black Bears were almost 49.1% in the paint and 57.9% from the three-point line.
Vachon said defense is important, too and that she thinks her team did a good job holding the Great Danes.
"We did a nice job today creating turnovers and getting some baskets off that," she said.
Albany head coach Colleen Mullen said that Vachon asked to talk to her team after the game.
"I'm really impressed with them," Vachon said of the Great Dane's season and how they had to pause a couple of times this year due to COVID-19. "I told Colleen and I told the team a lot of teams would have opted out. It's not like they were on pause once, they were on pause twice.
The Black Bears will take on the winner of the UMass Lowell vs. Stony Brook game.
