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BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Vermont women's basketball team faces Sacred Heart for just the second time in program history and first since the 1984-85 season on Wednesday (Dec. 3). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on WMVT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com) with Kevin Fitzgerald calling the action. The game will also be streamed onilne for free via NECFrontRow.com.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
CatamounTV Black Uniform Unveiling
Chat with the Cats - Tierra Shumpert
Game Notes (.pdf)
LAST TIME OUT - No. 21 Syracuse 94, Vermont 63
Freshman Sydney Smith drained six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 18 points to lead Vermont, but No. 21-ranked Syracuse placed six players in double figures to post a 94-63 win at the Carrier Dome ... Smith and junior Kylie Atwood placed the UVM offense, combining for 10 of the team's 12 3-pointers in the contest ... Atwood added 12 points, one shy of her career-high, behind four 3-pointers in the first half ... She also grabbed eight rebounds ... Niki Taylor came up just shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
ABOUT SACRED HEART
Sacred Heart stands at 3-1 on the year ... The Pioneers opened the season with three straight wins before suffering their first loss to Lehigh, 85-77, on Sunday ... Hannah Kimmel leads the team in scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg) ... Adaysha Williams is the only other Pioneer averaging double figures on the season at 12.0 points per game ... As a team, Sacred Heart is averaging 75.5 points per game, while giving up 66.0 to its opponents ... The Pioneers are shooting 42.7 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from the arc and 75.4 percent from the foul line ... Head coach Jessica Mannetti is in her second season at the helm of the Pioneers ... She spent four seasons as an assistant at Hofstra.
THE SERIES
This is just the second meeting between the two schools ... Vermont won the only other meeting back on Feb. 11, 1985 in Burlington, 81-63 ... The Catamounts are 0-2 against NEC teams this season having lost to Bryant (72-55) and Central Connecticut (77-75 ot).
TAYLOR COLLECTS 600
Senior Niki Taylor is nearly averaging a double-double (10.2 ppg/8.8 rpg) for the Catamounts ... She became the 15th Catamount to reach the 600 rebound mark with nine at No. 21 Syracuse ... She ranks among the active leaders in America East in scoring (2nd - 890 career pts) and steals (5th - 101 career) ... Taylor ranks first among active leaders in rebounding in the league (601 career) and leads the league in offensive rebounds per game (5.7) ... She is closing in the 1,000-career point milestone, entering the game 110 shy of the mark.
SHARP SHOOTING SYD
Freshman Sydney Smith has posted career-highs in back-to-back games. She scored 14 points versus Delaware and raised her career mark to 18 points at No. 21 Syracuse ... Smith is averaging 16 points per game over the last two contests and has made eight 3-pointers (6 against Syracuse).
ATWOOD OFF TO BEST START IN CAREER
Junior Kylie Atwood is off to the best start in her career ... She has started all six games ... She is averaging 9.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc ... She set new career marks in rebounds (8), assists (5) and 3-point field goals (4) and was one shy of tying her career-high in points (12) at No. 21 Syracuse in UVM's last outing.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont closes out its stretch of three games in five days when it hosts Dartmouth on Sunday (Dec. 7) at 2 p.m. The game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com) and can also be seen online for free in HD via CatamounTV.com.
