WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
For the fourth consecutive season, Vermont plays Albany in the America East Tournament quarterfinals. Tip-off for Saturday's game between the seven-seed Catamounts and the two-seed Great Danes is set for 6:00 p.m. from Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine.
 
Per a contract between the America East and ESPN, all conference games air online on ESPN3 and via the ESPN App, including every matchup of the America East Tournament.  
 
As always, an audio broadcast is available on CatamounTV.com and News/Talk 620 WVMT-AM. Pregame coverage for the Vermont-Albany game with Logan Ratick begins at 5:40 p.m., with tip-off set for 6 p.m. from Cross Insurance Arena.
 
RELATED LINKS
Video | Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes
 
TICKETS
Fans can purchase tickets for the America East Tournament by visiting www.americaeast.com or by visiting the Cross Insurance Arena box office. Tickets are also available on stubhub.com. 
  
CATAMOUNTS RECAP
Since beating Albany on Tom Brenna Court on Feb. 8, UVM dropped its last five regular season games, the most recent loss (55-49) coming to Stony Brook on Vermont's Senior Day.
 
For the Catamounts, Sydney Smith was the lone player in double-figures with 13 points in her final game at Patrick Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
 
For Hanna Crymble, it was her first game off the bench this season, which allowed senior Rachel Merrill to log just the second start of her career. Crymble scored eight points off the bench. She finished the regular season with 23 double-figure scoring efforts in 29 games.
 
As a team, Vermont shot 33% from the field, 21% (7-34) from downtown and just 2-3 at the free throw line against Stony Brook.
  
SCOUTING ALBANY
Head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee is in her second year at the helm of the program. Last season, her Great Danes won the conference tournament for a sixth consecutive season and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to top-seeded Connecticut.
 
Aside from losing to Albany in the last three America East Tournament quarterfinals, UVM has lost to Albany in four of the last six conference tournaments. Last season, Albany won 65-45. The year before Albany won 95-43 and in 2014-15, Albany took that quarterfinal showdown by a 66-33 score.
 
Albany is the two-seed in the conference tournament this season after losing the final game to Maine on the road in overtime, 74-69. This regular season, Albany finished 23-6 overall, 11-2 in non-conference play, 12-1 at home, 9-5 on the road and 12-4 in America East.
 
Two Great Danes average at least 10 points and five rebounds per game: Jessica Fequiere (17.9 PPG, 6.2 RPG) and Tiana Jo-Carter (10.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG). Fequiere finished second in the conference in scoring this season.
 
Sophomore point guard Mackenzie Trpcic led the conference with 6.8 assists per game and 197 total assists this season. Her assist to turnover ratio (2.1) was second best in the America East.

As a team, Albany led the conference in scoring (69.3 PPG) and ranked second in steals (11.2 per game) during the 2017-18 regular season. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Albany leads the all-time series 21-17. On Feb. 8, Vermont's 63-57 win at home snapped a 19-game series losing streak. The Catamounts lost all three meetings last season to the Great Danes, but split this year's regular season series 1-1.
 
Vermont is 1-4 all-time against Albany in the America East Tournament quarterfinals. The lone win came in 2009-10, when the Catamounts last won the conference tournament.
  
HISTORY BEFORE OUR EYES
Candice Wright's five blocked shots against Rider on Dec. 1 placed her in sole possession for first all-time on Vermont's career blocks list. The junior broke Katie McNamara's '05 record of 102 blocked shots on her first rejection of the contest. Wright has 139 blocked shots during her career through the last game vs. Stony Brook.
   
DIALING FROM LONG DISTANCE
After making two three-pointers vs. Stony Brook, Smith maintains her rank of fourth all-time in program history with 185 career makes from long distance. She surpassed her former teammate, Kayla Burchill '15 (170) with four three-pointers at UMBC on Jan. 6. Smith is closing in on third place, which is held by May Kotsopoulos '10 (187). Additionally, Smith ranks 14th all-time in program history with 1,164 points.
 
Kristina White sits sixth all-time in program history in three-point field goals after she surpassed Ashleigh Cuncic '07 (143) on Jan. 31 against Binghamton. The redshirt-senior co-captain has now made 148 triples during her time in Burlington. 
 
As a team this season, Vermont is averaging six and a half three-point makes per game. Out of UVM's 1,551 field goal attempts through 29 games during the regular season, just under 44% have come from behind the three-point arc. Individually, the most proficient three-point shooting Catamounts have been Derda (33%), Crymble (31%) and White (29%).
  
NEXT UP
The Catamounts must beat the Great Danes on Saturday night in order to keep their postseason alive. If Vermont wins, it will play the winner of Binghamton and Hartford on Sunday afternoon. If the game is necessary, it will air on ESPN3 and WVMT/CatamounTV.com.