Maine Women's Basketball Decides to Not Play In America East Tournament
The announcement comes in the aftermath of the Feb. 26 bus accident on Interstate 95 near Georgetown, Mass. in which the bus driver was injured and a UMaine player sustained a broken hand.
"It has been a difficult time for these student-athletes following the accident," says Robert Dana, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. "Our focus has been and continues to be the health and well-being of these players in their athletic and academic lives. Knowing students as I do and having consulted with experts, my recommendation to President Ferguson, AD Abbott and Coach Barron is that the UMaine women's basketball team end its season to spend this time continuing to recuperate. They are back in the UMaine community and that's what matters. Seeing them back on the road for the tournament would have been difficult and not in their best interest."
Coach Richard Barron and Athletic Director Steve Abbott talked with the student-athletes Monday morning and afternoon before notifying America East of UMaine's decision.
The No. 8-ranked UMaine squad was scheduled to meet No. 1-seeded Albany on Friday evening at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
UMaine player Milica Mitrovic sustained a broken hand and a bus driver was injured after the bus transporting the team to a game at Boston University went off Interstate 95 near Georgetown, Mass. at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Coach Barron was treated for minor facial lacerations and three staff members sustained concussions. All the players and staff on the bus were taken to three area hospitals for observation and were released.
Aaron Jackson
Sports Director/Reporter
[email protected]
Aaron began his career at WVII in March of 2008. He attended Old Town High School, where he graduated in 2004. From there he moved on to the New England School of Communications, majoring in Sports Broadcasting and Journalism. Originally a sports radio major, Aaron co-hosted a weekly sports radio show on WHSN called This Week in Sports while also doing play by play and color commentary of Husson Eagle sporting events. He also spent a semester as the stations sports director. After his sophomore year he realized he had run out of radio classes to take, so he began taking TV courses while also working at Stephen King’s sports station WZON. Aaron graduated from NESCom in May of 2008 with a degree in communications, and was named the top broadcast journalist of his class. Since joining ABC-7 and Fox Bangor he has won multiple Maine Association of Broadcasting Awards.
In his free time Aaron likes, surprise, to watch sports and play sports. From mountain climbing to basketball, there are very few sports Aaron doesn’t enjoy. He also likes traveling when he gets the chance, and is happy he has been able to pursue his passion for sports while staying close to his family. You can follow him on Twitter at @AaronRJackson, and you can catch him weeknights at 6, 10 and 11 on ABC-7 and Fox Bangor. He can also be reached via email at [email protected].
