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LOWELL, Mass. - The Vermont women's basketball team plays its second straight road game of the week at UMass Lowell on Sunday. The game is part of a Riverhawk/Catamount doubleheader as the school's men's basketball teams play prior to the women's teams. The women's game tips off at 4:30 p.m. at the Tsongas Center. The game can be seen online via ESPN3.com and Kevin Fitzgerald will have the call on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com).
The Catamounts stand at 3-15 overall and are 0-6 in America East. UVM is coming off a 74-46 loss at Maine on Thursday. UMass Lowell enters the contest having lost five straight and owns a 7-12 mark overall and is 1-6 in league play. The Riverhawks dropped a 64-60 decision to Stony Brook on Thursday.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Game Notes (.pdf)
LAST TIME OUT - Maine 74, Vermont 46
Niki Taylor scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds, including the 700th of her career, but Liz Wood poured in a career-high 30 points to lead Maine to a 74-46 victory in Bangor on Thursday ... Wood scored 21 points in the first half and finished the game with five 3-pointers ... Vermont held an early 7-4 lead at the 14:49 mark of the first half, but Maine responded with a 12-2 run, all 12 points from Wood to take a 16-9 lead midway through the half ... The Black Bears out scored Vermont 16-8 over the final 10 minutes and led 32-17 at the break ... Maine opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt to extend its lead to 20 ... UVM closed to within 13, but that's as close as the Catamounts could get the rest of the way.
ABOUT UMASS LOWELL
UMass Lowell is 7-12 overall, 1-6 in America East and has lost five straight ... The Riverhawks are coming off a 64-60 loss to Stony Brook on Thursday ... The team's lone league win was a 75-62 victory over UMBC ... Shannon Samuels leads the team in scoring (14.6 ppg), assists 3.7 apg) and steals (1.5 stlpg) ... Jasmine McRoy is chipping in 13.1 points per game and averaging 6.1 rebounds per game ... Lindsey Doucette is grabbing a team-high 6.9 rebounds per contest ... As a team, UML is averaging 65.2 points per game, while giving up 70.9 points to opponents ... The Riverhawks are shooting 40.5 percent from the floor, 32.6 percent from 3-point range and 70.6 percent from the foul line ... UMass Lowell is being out rebounded 40.8 to 37.6 on the year.
THE SERIES
Sunday marks the third meeting between the two teams, the series is tied 1-1 ... Last season marked UMass Lowell's first season in America East ... The two teams split the regular season games, with each team winning on their home floor ... The two games were two of the highest scoring games in the league last season.
RAISING THE BAR
Sydney Smith ranks ninth in America East in scoring and leads the Catamounts at 13.8 points per game ... She set new career-highs in six straight games and has reached double figures in 12 of the last 15 games ... Smith, who wears #3 because UVM assistant coach Courtnay Pilypaitis wore #3 during her stellar career, is third in 3-point field goals made (44), 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (32.8%) and ranks second in the league in blocks (22-1.3pg).
MILESTONE METER
Senior Niki Taylor is two points shy of the 1,000-point milestone ... She collected her 700th career rebound at Maine on Thursday with eight in the contest ... She is the eighth player to grab 700 career rebounds at UVM ... Taylor will be the 7th player in program history with 1000 points and 700 rebounds ... She is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game 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 - 990 career pts) and steals (5th - 107 career) ... Taylor ranks first among active leaders in rebounding in the league (696 career) and ranks second in the league in rebounding (8.7 rpg) and leads the conference in offensive rebounds (4.4 pg).
ALUMNI GAME
Women's basketball alumnae are invited to join the team on February 7 when it hosts Binghamton and for a reception following the game. If enough alumnae are interested in playing, an alumnae game in the morning will be held. Please contact our Victory Club office at Victory.Club@uvm.edu or 802-656-0956 to register or for more information.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont returns to Patrick Gymnasium to host the Albany on Thursday at 7 p.m. ... The Great Danes are the two-time defending America East Champions ... Tickets can be purchased online via UVMathletics.com, in person at the UVM Athletic Ticket Office (M-F: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.), via the phone at 802-656-4410, or in person one hour before tipoff in the Patrick Gymnasium Lobby ... Kevin Fitzgerald will have the call on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com) and the game will be streamed online for free in HD via CatamounTV.com.
