As the Southern Maine Community College women’s basketball team chases a national title next week in Uniontown, Pa., one important cog will be missing: Coach Becky Roak.

Roak will be back in Maine either a new mom or still awaiting the birth of her first child.

SMCC Athletic Director Matt Richards met with the team’s assistant coaches on Tuesday night to map out a plan.

The SMCC women (14-14) and SMCC men (17-11) both have qualified for the United States College Athletic Association national championships, which run March 1-6. Seedings will be decided this week.

The women came on strong down the stretch and earned a bid by winning the Yankee Small College Conference last weekend with a 76-67 win over top seed Central Maine CC.

“They’re the classic story of a team peaking at the right time,” said Richards. “They’ve had an up-and-down season and have just sort of put it together. They ended with two wins. Bang. Bang.”

The good news? Both SMCC teams will play in Uniontown and travel together, leaving logistical problems to a minimum.

“I’ll sit down with the staff and determine which role each of them will have,” said Richards. “I don’t envision me coaching the team, but I’ll certainly have a much more added role. It’s almost a blessing in disguise both tournaments are in the same place.”

ST. JOSEPH’S: The No. 3 seed Monks’ women’s basketball team took a monster 44-16 lead at halftime over No. 6 Emerson College to open the Great Northeast Athletic Conference playoffs Tuesday night.

They ended with a 69-48 win to advance to the conference semifinals on Thursday.

“We had played Emerson last week and struggled early before winning by 10,” said Coach Mike McDevitt. “So that first 20 minutes of basketball (Tuesday) was really high on both ends of the court for us.”

McDevitt said the team has set its sights on reaching the title game.

“We went into the year wanting to host a first round game. When that started to look attainable we wanted to set our sights even higher,” he said. 

BOWDOIN: After dispatching Bates College in the New England Small College Athletic Conference women’s basketball playoffs, the No. 3 seed Polar Bears (21-4) advanced to play Colby (21-4) in a semifinal Saturday at top-seed Amherst College.

The win pushed the Polar Bears’ record to 21-0 all-time in NESCAC tournament games at home.

Bowdoin had lost to Bates earlier this winter, 77-56 at home.

UNE: The Nor’easters’ women’s team earned the No. 2 seed in The Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament and hosted No. 7 Western New England College in a quarterfinal round on Tuesday.

The Nor’easters (12-6) earned a 68-56 win over the Golden Bears (14-2) and will host No. 6-seed Roger Williams in a semifinal Thursday night at 7.

UNE is led by junior guard Kelley Paradis of Newport who was named the conference defensive player of the year.

Heading into the tourney, Paradis, a 5-foot-10 guard, was averaging 16.6 points a game to rank fifth among conference players in scoring.

She also was named first team all-TCCC.

SOUTHERN MAINE: The USM women (16-9, 11-3 Little East Conference) have earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the LEC tournament.

The Huskies open the tournament at 8 p.m. Friday night at Western Connecticut in Danbury, Conn. They will play No. 3-seed Eastern Connecticut State, which beat No. 6 Keene State, 65-54, in a first-round game Tuesday.

Courtney Cochran has 14 double-doubles this season, which is tied for the lead in the conference. 

Staff Writer Jenn Menendez can be contacted at 791-6426 or at:

jmenendez@pressherald.com