Emily Rousseau stayed in her home state and played for the University of Maine in 2007-08, starting 16 games and averaging 8.1 points, three rebounds and two assists in nearly 30 minutes.

By the end of her freshman season, however, Rousseau was convinced that the time commitment involved with playing at the Div. 1 level wasn’t for her.

“It really just wasn’t a good fit for me,’’ said Rousseau, a point guard. “I think with Div. 1, the commitment was a little too much for me. I wanted to focus a little more on academics.

“I really wanted to go Div. 1, but once I got there, whether it was Div. 1 or Div. 2, it wasn’t so important to me. It was more about finding a good fit and good balance.’’

Rousseau began looking for a Div. 2 school during the spring of 2008 and zeroed in on Northeast-10 Conference members Assumption College, Saint Anselm College and Stonehill College.

Assumption was getting strong consideration, but Rousseau wanted to tour the Stonehill campus before making a final choice.

“I actually didn’t know much about Stonehill,’’ she said. “My AAU is the one who suggested that I look there because it has a really good program.

“It’s funny. When I was on my visit, originally I was leaning towards Assumption, but I didn’t know anything about Stonehill. I wasn’t really sure. When I visited, I knew pretty much right away that’s where I wanted to go.

“I got to talk to a lot of the girls on the team and I really felt that they were kind of on the same page as me. I really liked that.’’

Rousseau transferred to Stonehill in the fall semester of 2008, and she has been a key component to the Skyhawks for two seasons. The finance major was named to the All-NE-10 second team as a sophomore and made the all-conference first team this season.

The Skyhawks, who open the NCAA Div. 2 East Regional today against Bentley University in Fitchburg, are happy Rousseau decided to take a look at their program back in 2008 after leaving Div. 1 basketball behind.

“We were thrilled that she was actually going to come visit,’’ recalled Coach Trisha Brown. “To be honest, we had heard she was leaning heavily to Assumption because she had some friends in the program.

“We were thrilled just to have the opportunity to show her around before she made her decision. We probably gave the best tour of our lives. We feel very lucky that she ended up here.’’

Rousseau averaged 14 points and 4.5 assists in 2008-09 when Stonehill advanced to the East Regional final, and she is averaging 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists as a junior this season

The transfer of Rousseau gave the Skyhawks a player with 23 games of Div. 1 experience, and that has come in handy the past two seasons.

“She’s been such a great addition,’’ said Stonehill center Kelsey Simonds of Middleboro. “She’s just very poised offensively and her ability to score has helped us so much. I can’t imagine where we’d be without her.

“She definitely fits in here and you knew she was going to help right away. The one thing I think about her is that is very important is her confidence. That helps us on the floor. Whatever she does, she has confidence. Her poise at the end of a game when things are tight or there’s adversity is important.’’

Said Brown: “She’s a competitor. She loves big games. She’s the kid who wants the ball. She wants to take the last shot. She has a great poise to her. She doesn’t get too emotional, which really helps her control our pace in big games.’’

Two years into her stay at Stonehill, Rousseau is glad she relocated from Div. 1 to Div. 2 and happy to be part of the Skyhawks.

“Basically, I chose Stonehill because it had the best academics and basketball program, I thought,’’ she said. “I loved it instantly and I still love it. I think about it a lot actually, and I do think I made the right decision.

“I’m very happy where I am. When I was first being recruited (in high school), I kind of had my sights set on Div. 1. Once I got there, I was more just looking for a place where I could find a good balance, where it just wasn’t so much about basketball.’’