WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
The Catamounts will begin their America East Conference schedule on Thursday night when they face UAlbany on the road at McDonough Sports Complex. The start time for the contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Ryan Zimmerman, the voice of Catamounts women's basketball, will be on the radio call on WVMT.
 
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CLOSING OUT NON-CONFERENCE STRONG
The Catamounts finished their 2022-23 non-conference schedule in dominating fashion with a 64-34 victory on the road against Holy Cross. With the victory Vermont improved to 8-4 during their non-conference schedule which is the most non-conference wins under Mayer Women's Head Basketball Coach Alisa Kresge. The Catamounts twice recorded six non-conference wins in Coach Kresge's reign (2019-20 and 2021-22). This season's non-conference schedule was one of the toughest under Coach Kresge with games featuring nationally ranked Indiana on the road, before playing other tough matchups against Miami (OH), Delaware, Dartmouth, Duquesne, Siena and Holy Cross. Vermont saw their longest regular season winning streak under Kresge completing six straight victories across November and December. During their non-conference schedule, the Catamounts were 5-1 at Patrick Gym and went 3-3 away from Burlington.
 
JOINING ELITE COMPANY
In the closing non-conference victory over the Crusaders senior guard Emma Utterback joined historic UVM status becoming just the 24th women's basketball player in program history to reach 1,000 points. On a fast break layup with less than two minutes to go in the game Utterback recorded her 1,000th point in her 79th game in Catamount Country. This marks the second consecutive season a Catamount has reached the 1,000 point milestone.
 
CAT(S) AMONG NATION'S BEST
Sophomore guard Catherine Gilwee is ranked 12th in the country with 38 three pointers made while her 79 attempts are tied for 68th in the nation. Her 48.1 percent from behind the arc is ranked 19th in the nation while only one of the players ahead of her has attempted as many threes as Gilwee. Her 3.17 threes made per game is ranked eighth in the country while Vermont as a team is ranked 10th overall in three point percentage knocking down 39.5 percent a game and are tied for 126th with 6.6 threes made per game. Utterback is tied for 37th in the nation with 60 total assists and her 5.0 per game is tied for 36th in the country. Vermont's 43.6 percent shooting from the field has them ranked 78th in the country.
 
NET RANKINGS
The current 2022-23 NET rankings were released on December 27, 2022, with Vermont leading the America East, and the only team in the conference in the top 200, coming in at 123. Maine followed UVM at 202 while UAlbany rounded out the top three for the America East coming in at 245. Binghamton is the only other America East team in the top 300 coming in at 280.
 
CONFERENCE PLAY
Vermont looks to build on strong America East play from a season ago that saw them go 13-5 in conference play and reach the America East Semifinals. Those 13 wins were the most in conference for the Catamounts since the 2009-10 season. Vermont will start this season's conference slate with the very team, UAlbany, that eliminated them from the conference tournament a season ago.
 
SCOUTING UALBANY
UAlbany enters Thursday's first America East matchup with a 6-8 record coming of an 87-64 defeat on the road against Syracuse on December 20th. The Great Danes have earned victories over Merrimack, Siena, Navy, Canisius, Dartmouth and Stonehill. UAlbany had a four-game losing streak to Colgate, UNLV, ETSU and Stetson earlier in the year and also have loses against Cornell, Boston College, No. 3 Ohio State and Syracuse. The Great Danes were selected first overall in the America East Preseason Poll receiving seven of the nine first place votes and 59 overall points. Junior guard Kayla Cooper and senior forward Helene Haegerstrand were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team. So far on the season UAlbany is being led by graduate student guard Ellen Hahne who is averaging 14.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. Her 14.9 points is good for third in the America East. Haegerstrand has lived up to the preseason nod ranking second on the team in scoring (fourth in the America East) at 13.8 points while also registering 3.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.6 blocks per game while knocking down a team high 16 threes. Sophomore guard Freja Werth has made her impact felt this year averaging 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest while hitting 46.7 percent of her shots from the field.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
This will be the 47th matchup all-time between the two teams with the Great Danes holding a 26-20 advantage. Vermont and UAlbany met three times last year with both teams splitting the regular season meetings and the Great Danes taking the America East semifinal matchup 67-54. Across three games last season Utterback led the way averaging 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game, while Anna Olson was a force down low averaging 11.7 points, 6.3 boards and 1.3 blocks per game. Delaney Richason averaged 8.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks across those three games last season. Haegerstrand led the Great Danes across those matchups averaging 17.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 1.0 assists and 0.7 steals across three games with the Catamounts last year.
 
WHO'S NEXT
Following their matchup with UAlbany the Catamounts will return to Patrick Gym for the first time since November when they face UMBC on January 1. Vermont will start the new year with a 2 p.m. start time with that game broadcast live on ESPN+. Ryan Zimmerman, the voice of the Catamounts women's basketball, will be on the call on WVMT.