RALEIGH, North Carolina — The Maine Black Bears are getting ready to take on the North Carolina State Wolfpack Saturday in women’s tournament basketball action.
The teams, the states, and the schools are very different. While it's definitely warmer in North Carolina than in Maine, the two schools differ mostly in size.
Maine has about 9,000 undergraduate students. NC State more than doubles that with 24,000.
The courts the two teams play on also have a sizeable difference.
On occasion, the Black Beas play at the pit, which seats 1,340 people. When they're not playing on campus, fans can cheer them on from the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor which seats 5,800.
In Raleigh, the Reynolds Coliseum holds more than double that of the Cross with 12,400 seats.
The Black Bears played at NC State earlier this season, falling to the Wolfpack 84-46.
Players and coaches are looking for a better result this time around, they'll be ready for double the noise of the already loud Cross Insurance Center.
"It’s gonna be a little bit different. You know we’ve been fortunate the last handful of games and played at home we’ve had a tremendous crowd and they’ve been cheering for us and tomorrow they won’t be but we’ll have a good contingency of Maine fans here too and our kids love to play in front of a lot of people whether they’re cheering for us or against us," Maine Head Coach Amy Vachon said.
The Black Bears are excited about playing in a place they're familiar with.
"It wasn't a great game for us when we were here," Vachon said. "But I think for us to be very familiar with the same locker room. We've been in the building, we've shot here we've played this team, we know how good they can be."
But obviously, the Black Bears are looking for a different outcome, and they think they can do it.
"But now that we've been preparing for them for an entire week, I really feel good about the game," junior guard Blanca Millan said.
"It's really hard to beat the same team twice," John Carroll said. Carroll, father of sophomore forward, Maeve, came to Raleigh in December to watch the team.
After seeing both teams play, he says he thinks they can pull off the upset.
"I just want them to show what kind of team they are no matter what happens. I think they can beat 'em though," he said.
This time last year, the women on this team were getting ready to play in their first NCAA Tournament. Now, they're seasoned vets.
"I think last year when we came to the tournament everything was new," senior guard Parise Rossignol said. "From the charter plane, to the tournament gifts, we were really wide eyed but I think now we feel like we belong here."
"It was new so almost everyone was really, really excited about the trip. We knew it was a business trip but everyone was like focused more on going down to Texas, warm weather," Blanca Millan added with a laugh. "But now that we know how it works and we have a chance in front of us we need to take care of it."
The UMaine women will look to take care of it Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN 2.