ORONO — The season is officially over for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

Six days after the team bus crashed on Interstate 95 in Georgetown, Mass., the America East Conference on Monday announced that UMaine will not send the Black Bears to the league basketball tournament later this week in Albany, N.Y.

“It has been a difficult time for these student-athletes following the accident,” Robert Dana, UMaine’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students said in the league press release. “Our focus has been and continues to be the health and well-being of these players in their athletic and academic lives.

“Knowing students as I do and having consulted with experts, my recommendation to President [Paul] Ferguson, AD [Steve] Abbott and Coach [Richard] Barron is that the UMaine women’s basketball team end its season to spend this time continuing to recuperate. They are back in the UMaine community and that’s what matters. Seeing them back on the road for the tournament would have been difficult and not in their best interest.”

Eighth-seeded UMaine was scheduled to play No. 1 Albany in Friday’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal at SEFCU Arena. Instead, the Black Bears finish their season with a 4-24 record and Albany will receive a bye.

The release said Barron and Abbott talked with team members twice Monday before notifying America East of the decision.

“We are very sympathetic to the traumatic event Maine women’s basketball has experienced,” said America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen. “We entrust this decision to the experts and professionals on Maine’s campus to do what is best for the student-athletes, coaches and staff. The America East still looks forward to a great tournament in Albany this weekend.”

The Feb. 26 crash of the chartered Cyr Bus line motor coach seriously injured driver Jeff Hamlin of Charleston and left many passengers sore and emotionally shaken. The bus veered across two southbound lanes, the median and four northbound lanes — without hitting a single vehicle — and crashed into the trees.

The 55-year-old Hamlin, who apparently experienced a medical issue that caused him to lose consciousness while at the wheel, was listed in fair condition Monday at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, according to a public affairs spokesman.

UMaine’s worst physical injuries included a broken hand suffered by freshman Milica Mitrovic and concussions to at least two members of the travel party.

However, the lingering trauma has left many of the players and coaches struggling to come to grips with the terrifying experience.

“I felt like when we went through the accident — sitting there on the side of the interstate with 17 ambulances, and helicopters overhead, and all that stuff — that we were done, that there was no way we were getting back on the court this year,” head coach Richard said Saturday.

The players voted last Friday to go ahead with Saturday’s final regular-season game against New Hampshire at Memorial Gym, an 86-63 loss to the Wildcats. While that decision did not come easy, according to team members, it also did not involve any travel.

The lingering effects of the accident continue to weigh heavily on the players’ minds.

“I don’t think anybody will really understand what it was to be in the bus unless you were in the bus or saw it happening,” junior Ashleigh Roberts said Saturday.

“These kids haven’t been sleeping. They’re emotionally drained,” Barron said after Saturday’s game. He added, “I can tell you right now that there’s some people that we could absolutely not expect to make the trip. They’re just not ready for it.”

Barron explained that he removed himself from the players’ discussions last week about whether to play the UNH game. This time, he shared one important piece of advice.

His plan was to “to encourage our team to err on the side of protecting those who’ve struggled with it [the crash] the most instead of trying to accommodate those who have been affected by it the least,” Barron said.

With only eight players available, UMaine could have considered taking a rental van or other smaller vehicles to Albany, rather than a motor coach.

Even though the Black Bears admitted Saturday’s game was therapeutic, Barron knew the feeling would subside once talk of traveling to Albany began to resurface.

“The idea of getting on a bus for seven hours right now is one of the scariest things in the world for them,” Barron said Saturday.

Ever since their return last Wednesday, the university has made counselors available to players, coaches and staff alike to talk about their feelings.

Barron said those sessions have been tremendously beneficial for all involved.

“Obviously we’ve got a very attentive counseling staff here on campus that are available to these kids and helping them through it,” he said.

Few of them have been prepared for experiencing the gamut of emotions, ranging from moments of euphoria when realizing they survived the crash to the horror of knowing how close they came to potentially being killed or seriously injured.

“I feel like not all of us have hit that moment where [we realize], OK, we’re lucky to be alive,” sophomore Courtney Anderson of Greene said Saturday. “It hasn’t hit me. I’m still very emotional about the whole situation.”

Barron said he appreciates the patience and understanding shown by the people at the University of New Hampshire and at the America East Conference during the last week. He also praised the UMaine fans and other well-wishers who have reached out to the Black Bears.