BIDDEFORD — Coming off consecutive comeback playoff wins to secure the Commonwealth Coast Conference title, the University of New England womens basketball team is currently preparing for the NCAA Division III tournament, which begins on Friday.

The bracket was announced by the NCAA Monday afternoon and the Nor’easters were matched up against Moravian College.

The Harold Alfond Forum will also host Tufts University and Regis College, as they will play prior to UNE on Friday. The winners will play Saturday.

This will be the first time in UNE’s history that a basketball team has hosted an NCAA game. UNE coach Anthony Ewing is excited for his team and believes the community is as well.

“The girls are excited to play at home, they earned it. I think the entire community is excited as well. It’s going to be a mad house here,” said Ewing. “We will also have some other local schools here and generally their students travel well. I know Tufts is really involved and Regis travels well. Friday night will be a great night of basketball … I know UNE will turn out.”

Although UNE (25-3) enters the matchup as the favorite over Moravian (19-7), who is just 6-5 in their last 11, Ewing believes his team has their work cut out for them in the days ahead considering their unfamiliarity with the Greyhounds.

“I don’t know much about Moravian, but we’ll find out a lot more about them this week,” said Ewing. “I’ll look through the links tomorrow, we’ll delve into film pretty deep to find out whatever we can about Moravian. We’re going to have to work hard.”

Ewing expects his seniors to step up for his club – both on and off the court.

“All I want to see from our seniors is what I have seen all year. I just want them to be themselves and not try to be something they’re not. We just need to do what we are capable of doing and not try to do more, if we do that we’ll be alright,” said Ewing.

The Nor’easters also have a handful of freshman that will need to pull their weight in the upcoming games.

“We need them to step up too. For the freshmen this will obviously be their first year, but at the end of the day it’s going to be a team effort, everyone will have to do their part for us to be successful,” said Ewing.

This will mark the fifth straight year that the Nor’easters have made the NCAA tournament and Ewing believes that experience will be a key advantage for his squad moving forward.

“It’s a step up in competition – there are no bad teams,” said Ewing. “There were no bad teams in our conference either, but this is a different set of circumstances … there’s a bit more pressure. Our girls have been here before, this is their fifth straight year, so we’ll lean on that experience and they’ll do their thing.”

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at sports@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.