Natural Born Leader

It has been a long road for the University of Maine women’s basketball team in the last four

years. A coaching change four seasons ago and a couple of years near the bottom of their conference preceded where they are now, atop the America East Conference.

The one on-court presence that has been there through it all has been fourth-year guard Courtney Anderson, who took on a leadership role from day one.

“I’ve felt that responsibility since I got here,” Anderson said. “I had to grow up quickly and I fill that position naturally. I’m very vocal and I try to take advantage of knowing what coach is saying and what he’s looking for.”

With the team in the midst of a 13-game winning streak, it is easy to forget the struggles that the program has gone through for the last few years. In her first two years as a Black Bear, the team went a combined 12-48.

Anderson was recruited by former head coach Cindy Blodgett, who was fired before Anderson had the chance to play for her. Instead, she has played her four years under the leadership of current head coach Richard Barron.

Out of the five players that came in Anderson’s recruiting class, she is the lone senior left on the team. Throughout the adversity in adjusting to a coach that didn’t recruit her and a youthful team in her early years, Anderson has persevered.

“I think I fit in well with what coach was looking for in that I’m a hard-working person who controls the two things that we can control: attitude and effort,” Anderson said.

Though he didn’t recruit her himself, Baron had high expectations of Anderson from the get-go. Though she is a natural born leader, it didn’t all come easy.

“It was difficult in the way that Coach Barron wanted me to lead,” Anderson said. “Pieces like holding people accountable wasn’t easy for me because I’m not much of a person that likes conflict whatsoever, so that was a big problem for me.”

The women’s basketball team has drawn some of their larger crowds in the last month or so, making for some loud playing environments. Through the noise, Anderson’s voice can be heard barking orders and calling plays.

That leadership starts in practice, where the team breaks up into white and blue teams. The blue team is composed of starters and players who are on the court for the majority of the game, while the white is largely underclassmen. Anderson heads the white team and takes pride taking underclassmen such as second-year Sheraton Jones under her wing.

“I thoroughly enjoy playing with them every single day,” Anderson said. “They’re a really good group of young kids that are working really hard to make this program better.”

Growing up around the game

Anderson grew up watching Maine High School basketball, falling in love with the game during school breaks at the Augusta Civic Center and Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

“Down in Portland I would just sit there and watch,” Anderson said. “There were plenty of teams growing up that had people that I thought were great.”

Anderson’s attitude towards team basketball stems from her time watching those games from a young age and seeing teams that played together succeed.

“I liked watching the game and understanding the game. It was never just one player,” Anderson said. “Those weeks spent at the Augusta Civic Center were definitely part of it and just my family background too.”

The Anderson family is big on athletics, with Anderson’s younger sister Kristen playing for rival University of New Hampshire (UNH). Their mother played basketball for the University of Southern Maine and their father played football for Norwich University.

When the younger Anderson sister was looking at schools, her family was supportive of her choice, even if it meant going to a rival school

“Did I want to play with my sister again? Of course,” Anderson said. “But I wanted her to go to a place where she was happy.”

“I am a UNH women’s basketball fan on every day of the week besides the one we play them,” Anderson confessed.

“I know I said UNH women’s basketball, but UNH nothing else,” she clarified. “Just women’s basketball.”

Brighter days

In the second half of Anderson’s time at UMaine, the women’s basketball team has seen a stark contrast in results. The Black Bears are sitting atop the America East and playing with a confidence that they haven’t before.

“I think a lot of experience plays into it,” Anderson said. “We’ve been together for three years now, at least the majority of us. Eight of us have been together for three years now so that’s a huge piece of it.”

A major turning point for Anderson was a talk she had with Coach Barron on the bus coming back from a tough road loss. The conversation changed the way she looked at basketball and her life.

“He used to call people up to the front of the bus and it was really the turning point in me starting to hold people accountable and things of that nature,” Anderson said. “He just asked me, ‘What do you believe in that you would stand up for no matter what?”

“That to me was one of one of the strongest questions when I was moving into my faith and my love of God and even my teammates,” she continued. “Taking that question within the basketball realm and then the outside world, it really changed me.”

Barron, a fiery competitor, means a lot more to Anderson and the team than his passionate exterior.

“To us, he has a strong attitude about making us the best people that we can be and the best students we can be, the best basketball players we can be,” Anderson said. “Obviously that’s his job but he takes so much pride in just loving us and making us the best people we can be.”

Courtney Anderson Night

Thursday Feb. 26 is Senior Night for the team, but with Anderson the last standing senior, Coach Barron has dubbed it “Courtney Anderson Night.”

Anderson, an elementary education major, is looking to become a coach in the future. She was recently accepted into the “So You Want To Be A Coach” program that helps develop collegiate basketball players to be future coaches.

“I knew it coming in,” Anderson said. “I’ve known it for a while. You can get a degree in anything, but you can’t get a degree in coaching so the teaching degree kind of goes hand in hand with coaching.”

With the ending of the season and graduation looming, it looks like Anderson won’t be away from the hardwood for long.