Inside Southern Maine

By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com

When 25-year old Southern Maine assistant coach Trish Ripton came to head coach Gary Fifield seven games into the season to tell him about a possible transfer, Fifield didn't immediately realize that she was talking about herself.

Ripton, as it turned out, had a year of eligibility remaining from her stint at Maine and got the itch to play after working for Fifield on a volunteer basis. As it turned out, she was also a few credits shy of graduating from college.

"Everybody on the team was jumping for joy," Fifield said, "because she was very popular with the players."

Once Ripton began to assert herself on the court, keying the team to wins at the Salem State Holiday Tournament over Christmas break, the attitude changed a bit. Players who had been getting playing time lost some of it to Ripton. Role adjustments also created some team chemistry problems. A 7-0 start was overshadowed by a couple of unlikely defeats.

"Going into the first round of the conference playoffs, I had no idea where we were going," Fifield said.

Luckily everything was solved just at the right time- the postseason. Ripton (12.2 ppg) and Little East Conference Player of the Year senior guard Julie Plant (14.9 ppg) have been aided by several Huskies who have stepped up their play. Forward Jamie Zahm scored 19 points on 9-for-10 shooting in the 65-62 quarterfinal win against Rowan that returned the squad to its second Final Four in the past three seasons. Forward Amanda Kimball, the player with the best jump shot on the team, has also been a factor.

The team has become much more of a team. The Huskies play at their best when the defense is creating points. Good ball movement has been the reason for recent success. In a third-round win over Clark, Southern Maine had 26 assists on 29 field goals.

"We play a different style of play then we have in the past," Fifield said. "We've revamped it because we lost our key post players from the last couple of years. We're more up-tempo now both offensively and defensively. We're more athletic."

Fifield knows that his team isn't the favorite to win the championship. A few weeks ago, who would have even expected the team to get this far? Having gone up against Washington U. in the 1998 title game, he's got a sense what it's going to take to get there again.

"I have no idea (if Washington can be beaten)," Fifield said. "The pressure has got to be building though. If they get beat, it will be because of the pressure to three-peat."