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BURLINGTON, Vt. – Sydney Smith scored a team-high 21 points and
Kayla Burchill added 15 points to lead the Vermont Catamounts to a 72-66 win over Binghamton in America East women's basketball action at Patrick Gymnasium on Saturday.
Vermont moves to 4-19 and picks up its first league win (1-10) of the year. The Catamounts also snapped a 12-game losing streak with the victory. Binghamton falls to 4-20 overall and 2-9 in conference play.
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Photo GallerySmith came off the bench to make four 3-pointers and added six rebounds and three blocks. Burchill also drained four shots from beyond the arc and scored 11 of her points in 11 minutes during the first half.
Katie Lavelle chipped in 10 points, matching her career-high, and
Niki Taylor grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Jasmine Sina netted a game-high 22 points to pace the Bearcats. Imani Watkins chipped in 12 points, while Sherae Swinson added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
With the score tied at six after the first five minutes of the game, Vermont used a 14-3 run to open up an 11-point lead on Binghamton with 8:44 remaining in the half.
The Bearcats trimmed the lead to five on a 3-pointer by Jasmine Sina with 7:41 remaining and closed within two on a basket by Imani Watkins with 6:32 left. Vermont responded with eight straight points to push back out to a 13-point advantage, 32-19, with just over four minutes left in the half.
Binghamton closed the half with a 15-4 run, but trailed 36-34 at the break.
Vermont pushed out to a six point lead four minutes into the second half, but the Bearcats came back to tie the game up at 45 on a basket by Watkins at the 14:46 mark.
Binghamton never took the lead despite the teams trading baskets over the next five minutes.
A pair of free throws by Swinson at the 9:58 mark brought Binghamton within one, 52-51. Vermont answered with a 13-0 run, fueled by nine points from Smith, to push out to a 65-51 lead with 6:38 remaining in the game.
Binghamton closed to within five, twice in the final 1:30 of the game but the Catamounts were able to secure the victory.
Vermont hits the road for a pair of games next eek. The Catamounts travel to Durham, New Hampshire to face UNH on Wednesday (Feb. 11) at 7 p.m. and will take on UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 1 p.m. Both games can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com) with Kevin Fitzgerald on the call and both games can be seen online for free via AmericaEast.tv.
NOTES: Kayla Burchill is averaging 16.6 points per game over the last two contests for Vermont … The Catamounts posted a season-low eight turnovers against Binghamton … UVM out scored Binghamton 28-18 in the paint.