BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Vermont’s women’s basketball team’s annual poster day at the Patrick Gym on Sunday transformed into Senior Night for the Catamounts as they defeated the Massachusetts women’s basketball team 69-51.
Vermont seniors Libby Smith and Jen MacAulay combined to go 7-for-10 from the three-point line for 27 points to lead UVM to victory. Smith scored 15 of her 18 points in the first half while MacAulay dished out five assists to compliment her nine points.
Open looks and easy layups didn’t fall for the Maroon and White throughout the contest as the squad trailed the Catamounts the whole way.
“We’ve got a couple kids just tossing the ball at the basket in positions where [with] a little bit of discipline it would have been a basket,” Head Coach Joanie O’Brien said.
Highlighted by an 0-for-6 performance from the field by freshman Katie Nelson and a 3-for-13 by junior Amber Sneed, the Minutewomen simply couldn’t get the ball to drop with a 30 percent performance from the field.
“[Making open shots] is something we’re not very good at right now,” O’Brien said.
The team also shot just 3-for-17 from behind the arc.
The Catamounts, on the other hand, shot nearly 45 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point land behind Smith and MacAulay’s sharp shooting.
“They are a great shooting team and have been for a long time,” O’Brien said. “They did a great job of executing their offense. They took us out of what we wanted to do.”
After falling behind 6-0 to start the game, the Maroon and White clawed its way back into the contest when Ebony Pegues was left with no passing options while standing behind the three-point line. The junior set herself and drilled the three to cut the Vermont lead to 25-23.
But Smith sunk two consecutive treys and MacAulay added another from three steps beyond the arc before halftime, which saw a 38-27 Catamount lead.
Smith started the second half with her fourth and final three and sophomore Morgan Brownlee drilled an 18-footer that extended the UVM lead to 43-27 and took away any hope UMass had of tugging momentum over to its side.
A four-for-four performance down the stretch by junior Dawn Cressman gave the co-captain her season-high point total. Cressman scored 11 of her 15 points in the final frame.
Junior Nekole Smith played a season high 24 minutes, a good sign for the forward who is recovering from a devastating knee injury that occurred in the 2000 preseason. Smith led the team with 15 points and nine rebounds, including six on the offensive end.
Jennifer Butler, a preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection suffered through foul trouble throughout the contest. The junior center scored just five points while hauling down nine rebounds in 26 minutes of action.
Butler (2-for-4) and Smith (6-for-12) were the only two UMass players that shot 50 percent or better from the field.
The free throw shooting improved after a woeful performance at James Madison last week. The Minutewomen made two-thirds of their free throws Sunday.
With a road trip down south to take on the likes of Memphis and Arkansas-Little Rock coming up this weekend and less than a month before the A-10 schedule begins, it is time for the players on this Maroon and White squad to realize their true potential soon, or face a truly disappointing remainder of the season.
“Nobody’s playing up to their potential,” O’Brien said.
