FINAL SCORE: American 64, Vermont 62
BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Catamounts suffered a close 64-62 loss to American in the opening round of the TD Bank Classic on Friday evening. Vermont falls to 2-4 on the regular season and to 2-2 at Patrick Gym. Meanwhile, American improves to 3-2 on the season with the win and 2-2 outside of the Beltway.
 
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"This is a tough loss to swallow," head coach Chris Day said. "We talked about handling adversity and we tied it up with just over two seconds left. Give American credit because they executed and converted late, so hats off to them."

The American Eagles were led by junior center Cecily Carl, who recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, including four three-pointers.
 
Cassidy Derda, Carl's counterpart at center, led the Catamounts in scoring after recording season highs with 17 points, five made three-pointers, and 12 rebounds for her first double-double. Aside from Derda's double-double, two other Cats also posted double figures in the scoring column. Sydney Smith registered a double-double of her own with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Hanna Crymble added 15 points and the sophomore was perfect from both the field (6-for-6) and the foul line (3-for-3). 
 
The Catamounts led for most of the game, including 36-29 at halftime, but the Eagles managed to cut the deficit to a one-possession game by the end of the third period.
 
With 5.5 seconds remaining in the contest, American held a 62-59 advantage but UVM had a chance to tie the game. Kristina White received the inbound pass and found Derda at the top of the arc. Derda banked a three-pointer off the backboard and tied the score at 62-62 with just 2.3 second left to play.
 
The Eagles got the ball back with a chance to win the game in regulation. Emily Kinneston, a Shelburne, Vermont native, converted on a lay-up as time expired to give American the road win.
 
The Catamounts return to action on Saturday (Nov. 25) for the TD Bank Classic consolation game against James Madison at 5 p.m. American plays Villanova in the championship game following the conclusion of UVM's game. Tickets for the TD Bank Classic are still available by visiting UVMathletics.com/Tickets. The entire tournament will be streamed on ESPN3 with Tyler Terens and Bernie Cieplicki on the call. The UVM contest can also be heard on CatamounTV.com with Logan Ratick on the call. Pregame coverage begins at 4:40 p.m.