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BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Sydney Smith scored a game-high 17 points to lead four Catamounts in double figures as the Vermont women's basketball team erased a nine-point deficit and earned its third straight victory with a 63-61 win at St. Francis Brooklyn at the Pope Athletic Center on Wednesday night in non-conference action. Vermont improves to 3-7 overall, while St. Francis falls to 3-7 on the year.
"St. Francis is a really disciplined and tough team to play, especially at their place. We've played some close games this year and learned from them and to close out this one on the winning end is great. I was especially proud of
Jordan Eisler who stepped in for
Kylie Atwood and gave us solid minutes at point guard. Emilie (Cloutier), Sydney (Smith), Kylie (Butler), and Niki (Taylor) did a great job. They would not let us lose this game tonight."
Smith reached double figures for the seventh straight game and scored 15 of her points from beyond the arc (5-for-12).
Niki Taylor posted her fourth double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds and
Kylie Butler added 10 points and 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
Emilie Cloutier chipped in 10 points, all in the second half, to reach double figures in the scoring column for the third straight game.
Jordan Eisler handed out a career-high 10 assists in her first start of the season.
Sarah Benedetti matched Smith for game-high honors with 17 points, 12 in the first half, and became the 13th Terrier to reach the 1,000-career point milestone.
St. Francis led 18-10 at the 11:33 mark of the first half, but a 10-0 run by the Catamounts allowed Vermont to take a 20-18 lead with 7:08 remaining in the stanza.
The Terriers answered with a 16-5 spurt to regain the lead and built a nine-point advantage, its largest of the game, with 1:22 left and went into halftime with a 34-29 lead.
Butler scored five straight points for the Catamounts out of the locker room and UVM used an 11-2 run in the first six minutes of the half to open up a 40-36 lead.
St. Francis regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Cassidy Derda at the 11:42 mark, but Taylor answered with a layup on the next possession to push Vermont back in front by one with 11:20 remaining. Another layup by Cloutier at the 9:34 mark gave the Catamounts a six-point advantage, 49-43, but the Terriers would come back to tie the game up four times over the next five minutes.
With 4:07 left in the game and the score tied at 55, Cloutier scored four straight points and Smith added a layup to shove Vermont in front, 61-55, with 1:59 remaining. Taylor added two free throws with 55 seconds showing to give UVM a 63-56 lead, but a 3-pointer by Benedetti with 15 seconds left and a pair of free throws by Leah Fechko with five seconds remaining sliced the Vermont lead to two, 63-61.
The Catamounts missed a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining, to give St. Francis a last second shot, but a half court heave from Benedetti hit the backboard and bounced off the rim and Vermont came away with its first road win of the year.
After shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half, the Catamounts held the Terriers to 26.9 percent shooting and seven field goals in the second stanza. Vermont finished the game shooting 42.9 percent from the field.
Vermont closes out the first semester at Wisconsin-Green Bay on Saturday (Dec. 20). Tipoff against the Phoenix is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST). The game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online:
SportsJuice.com) and can also be seen on
ESPN3.
NOTES: Jordan Eisler is the first player to record 10 assists in a non-conference game since Albany's Sarah Royals on 12/10/13 … Eisler is the first Catamount to hand out 10 assists since teammate
Tierra Shumpert did at Binghamton on 1/16/13 … Vermont has had two players with double-doubles in back-to-back games …
Emilie Cloutier and
Niki Taylor posted double-doubles in the win over Wagner on Sunday and Taylor and
Kylie Butler achieved double-doubles tonight … Vermont is 3-1 when Cloutier scores double figures.