NORFOLK, Va. – There’s a distinctly different aura surrounding the University of Maine women’s basketball team as it prepares for today’s 5 p.m. NCAA Tournament first-round game against Stanford at the Old Dominion University field house.

Traditionally, the Black Bears have gone the extra mile to fully enjoy their NCAA experience. The visits have included side trips to local tourist attractions or malls, pep rallies with UMaine fans and alumni, and a general sense of revelry to complement the basketball side of things.

Not this time. After making four straight appearances in the NCAAs without a victory to their credit, coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie’s Bears appear to be all business.

Perhaps the sting of Saturday’s 57-55 loss to Northeastern in the America East championship game at Burlington, Vt., was the perfect impetus to help UMaine refocus on playing its best basketball when the Bears need it most.

“It’s about us, ladies,” Palombo told the players Monday at Memorial Gym in Orono as they headed into a film session to watch Stanford.

The Bears have adopted the philosophy wholeheartedly.

“I think we truly believe we can beat this team and it shows in the way we’ve been practicing down here,” said senior captain Kelly Bowman of Newport. “Coach [Palumbo] made a comment that every time we’ve been to the NCAAs [in the past], our practices have been horrendous. I think we were more in awe of the whole event and that we lost sight of what the goal was. And that’s to play basketball and to win games.”

The team has been concentrating on the task at hand – beating a formidable Stanford ballclub that comes out of the Pacific-10 Conference with a 17-11 record.

Palombo and the Bears have elected to remain in what amounts to seclusion during their stay, limiting as many distractions as possible. That has included limiting contact with parents and boosters who have made the trip.

In fact, UMaine doesn’t even plan to attend a pep rally scheduled for this afternoon, the thought being to keep the players’ thoughts trained on the ballgame.

Instead, the Bears have practiced twice, watched some Stanford game films, and spent time together in the hotel since arriving early Wednesday afternoon.

“I think a lot of people back home might be saying, `they’ve been so many times, when are they finally going to win?’ but I don’t think we look at that at all,” said UMaine junior Amy Vachon. “Definitely, we use the past as motivation and as experience, but we just look at the game in front of us and what we have to do.”

Martina Tinklova is expected to be ready to go tonight when UMaine takes on Stanford. The 6-foot-4 sophomore forward, who had been recuperating from a sprained left ankle suffered March 1, returned to practice Wednesday after taking three days off.

The Bears are likely to need Tinklova’s presence underneath against the Cardinal, who feature 6-6 center Carolyn Moos and 6-2 forward Bethany Donaphin.

The Old Dominion field house, the site of tonight’s NCAA tourney matchup, is a surprisingly small and unimpressive arena for a program of the university’s stature. The brightly-lit arena provides seating for up to 5,500 fans, but every seat is a bleacher.

The Monarchs, who take on Tennessee Tech in Friday’s late game, boast a 37-3 all-time record in postseason games held at the facility.

Jamie Cassidy will run into an old acquaintance tonight when UMaine meets Stanford. Christina Batastini, a 5-10 junior guard for the Cardinal, played a season of Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball on the same team as Cassidy back in 1995. Batastini is averaging 5.7 points in 16.3 minutes per game while coming off the bench at the two-guard spot.

Cassidy wound down a bit from Thursday’s practice by putting on a brief juggling exhibition as the Bears prepared to return to their hotel. The versatile post player juggled three basketballs simultaneously with apparent ease, but UMaine trainer Sherrie Weeks put on an equally impressive display of dexterity when she juggled three balls, also.