ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (15-14, 8-6) returns to the site of last season's America East Championship game as it looks for the regular season sweep of UAlbany (15-11, 9-4) on Saturday at SEFCU Arena live on ESPN3. Maine's last regular season sweep of the Great Danes came during the 2006-07 season.

PREVIEW/FULL GAME NOTES

A LOOK AT THE BLACK BEARS:
Maine recently had its 21-game home conference win streak, and eight game overall home win streak, snapped after a 65-57 loss to the America East top-seed New Hampshire. Sigi Koizar led the way for the Black Bears, notching her fifth career double-double, and second in as many games, after finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Maine, which trailed by as many as 15, closed the gap to four in the final quarter but failed to complete the comeback. Blanca Millan (14) and Laia Sole (10) joined Koizar in double-figure scoring.

Koizar continues to lead the way for Maine as she now stands just 22 points away from becoming the seventh in Maine history to tally 1,600 career points. The senior guard, who is fifth in the league in scoring, has produced double-digit scoring efforts in 16 games this season, including each of her last three. Koizar, averaging 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds over her last three outings, leads the league in free throw shooting (83.1%). Looking outside, Koizar is seventh among league leaders in 3-point field goals (1.8). Freshmen Laia Sole and Blanca Millan have each stepped up their play in conference action. Sole, averaging 10.3 points overall, ranks ninth among league leaders in conference only action at 12.4 points. Sole, converting on 51.4% of her field goals in league play, has tallied nine double-digit scoring performances in Maine's first 14 conference games. Millan, averaging 8.6 points overall, ranks 20th among league only game scoring (10.3), hitting double-digits in seven of her 14 league games, including a career-high 26 points effort last time out against UAlbany. Tanesha Sutton's has produced solid efforts across the stat board all season for the Black Bears. Sutton, averaging 7.4 points, leads Maine in rebounding (5.1) and assists (2.7) while checking in with a team-leading 48.0% from the field. Julie Brosseau is adding 7.0 points and leads Maine in 3-point field goals (53).

The Black Bears, who have held 10 opponents to 50 or fewer points, enter play with the nation's 56th ranked defense, allowing just 58.7 points per game and a 56.4 in league play. Maine is 42nd in the country with 400 assists, ranking fourth in the league at 13.8 per game. The Black Bears' 1,006 total rebounds leads the America East while they rank 31st in the nation in 3-point attempts (594) and 62nd in 3-point makes (180).

SCOUTING UALBANY:
The Great Danes, who are 11-1 at home, recently had their six-game conference win streak snapped after falling by a score of 63-60 on the road to UMBC. Imani Tate, who has led the Danes in scoring in 16 of their 26 games, against led the way with 21 points and seven rebounds. Tate is the league's scoring leader at 19.7 points per game while ranking 15th in rebounds (4.9), fifth in assists (3.7) and fourth in steals (2.0). Tate is the league's leader in field goal attempts (364). Junior Jessica Fequiere ranks sixth in the league at 12.8 points per game and leads the Danes in rebounding (7.1). Fequiere is also the league's leader in offensive rebounding, averaging 2.9 boards per game on the offensive end. Albany, averaging 67.1 poitns per game overall, leads all conference members in league only scoring, boasting 70.2 points per game against America East opponents. UAlbany is tops in the league in field goal percentage (41.7), rebounding (39.0), assists (15.4) and sits second in the league in steals (10.5).

A GLIMPSE INTO THE SERIES:
Maine and UAlbany will meet for the 36th time. The Black Bears enter play with a 19-16 advantage in the all-time series. The teams have split each of the last six meetings. In the latest showdown, Maine trailed by 11 at the half before outscoring the Danes 52-28 over the final two quarters to take an 84-71 victory. Blanca Millan led the way with a career-high 26 points including five 3-pointers. Laia Sole matched a career-high with 21. The 84 points by Maine currently stands as its highest scoring output of the season. Maine is 8-8 all-time at UAlbany and have lost two-straight road contests to the Danes. Maine's last win in Albany came on Feb. 1, 2015, a 52-44 decision. Sigi Koizar, has tallied double-digits in four-straight game in the series and enters averaging 11.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in eight meetings with UAlbany.

-UMaine-