BURLINGTON, VT – Vermont extended their longest winning streak since the 2001-02 season to 12 games with an 85-73 victory over NJIT at Patrick Gym on Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon was the Catamounts annual Rally Against Cancer Game presented by Mascoma Bank. With the victory, the Catamounts earned their second consecutive 20-win season and improved to 20-6 overall and 12-2 in America East. With the defeat NJIT falls to 13-13 overall and 8-6 in conference play.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score | Box Score (.pdf)
CatamounTV Highlights
Photos
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"Thank you to our awesome crowd today, we loved the energy in Patrick," said Mayer Head Women's Basketball Coach Alisa Kresge. "We shared the ball well and finished with 20 assists and three double digit scorers. Nice for us to win the rebounding battle and compete against a tough NJIT team. We're onto a gritty road game for Wednesday."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Anna Olson got off to a hot start for Vermont scoring the first six Catamount points to help UVM jump out to an early 6-4 lead.
• Following an Olson layup Delaney Richason drained a three for the Catamounts on the next possession to put Vermont up 9-4 with 6:39 remaining in the first quarter. 
• Over the next six plus minutes the Catamounts doubled-up NJIT 16-8 to push their lead to double digits, 25-12, heading into the second quarter. Vermont was led during the span by five points from Catherine Gilwee as well as four apiece from Olson and Emma Utterback.
• During their run to close the first quarter Vermont shot 7-10 from the field and 2-3 from deep while holding NJIT to just 3-10 from the field and 0-3 from three point range.
• Alejandra Zuniga converted an and-one layup on NJIT's first possession of the second quarter to cut the lead to 25-15 and help spark a 14-8 Highlanders run.
• Zuniga converted another layup with 4:36 remaining to cut the Catamount lead to just four, 33-29. During the span NJIT shot 5-8 from the field led by five points apiece from Zuniga and Kenna Squier (team-high 18 points).
• Vermont answered on the other end with an 11-8 spurt over the final four plus minutes of the first half to carry a 44-37 lead into the halftime break. During the last four plus minutes of the half Utterback had six points on a perfect 2-2 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line while Richason also added four points on a layup and 2-2 from the charity stripe.
• The Catamounts came out hot in second half rattling off a 9-0 run over the first 3:37 of the half to jump out to a 53-37 lead. During the stretch Utterback had four points while Richason drilled another three and the Catamounts forced three turnovers and held NJIT to 0-2 from the floor. 
• The Highlanders would not go away, as they battled over the final 6:23 of the third quarter going a perfect 7-7 from the floor and cut the score to 64-54 heading into the fourth quarter. Squier and Aria Myers led the way for NJIT with six each while Zuniga added three points and Trinity Williams had two points for the Highlanders.
• During the stretch Utterback and Richason kept the Catamounts afloat with four points each to help Vermont maintain a double digit lead heading into the fourth quarter.
• NJIT continued their run into the fourth quarter closing the gap to just five, 66-61, following a Kiana Brereton three with 7:33 remaining.
• However, that is the closest the Highlanders would get as Vermont used stifling defense and great shooting to jump out on a 17-4 run and expand their lead to 83-65 with 2:46 remaining in the game, a lead they would never relinquish.
• During the stretch Vermont was led by seven points from Richason as well as five points from first year Paula Gonzalez. UVM shot 5-6 from the field and 5-7 from the charity strip while holding NJIT to just 2-9 shooting and 0-2 from behind the arc. Trinity Williams scored all four points for the Highlanders during the Catamount run.
• NJIT closed out the game on an 8-2 run going 3-3 from the field to close the gap, but it was too late as Vermont was able to close out the game with an 85-73 victory.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Utterback and Richason led all scorers with 21 points each. For Utterback, this was her fifth 20-point game of the season and for Richason she tied a career-high and earned her second 20-point game of the season.
• Utterback shot 47.1% (8-17) from the floor while Richason shot 70.0% (7-10) from the field and 60.0% (3-5) from three.
• Olson finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and a game-high three blocks.
• The Catamounts shot 52.5% (31-59) from the field and 63.6% (7-11) from three.
• Vermont won the rebounding battle 35-27 and the turnover battle committing just seven while forcing 12 from NJIT.
• With the 12th straight victory Vermont earned their longest winning streak under Mayer Head Women's Basketball Coach Alisa Kresge and their longest such streak since the 2001-02 season.
• The win marks back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the Catamounts since the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
• With the victory Vermont clinches at least a top two seed in the Jersey Mike's America East Playoffs.
• With this afternoon's win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to King Street Youth Center as part of the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. Since its inauguration in 2017, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group has donated over $80,000 to local non-profits through the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative.  
• With seven three-pointers made by Vermont, M&T Bank will be donating $175 to the Vermont Foodbank. With a community bank approach, M&T Bank helps people reach their personal and business goals with banking, mortgage, loan and investment services.

 
WHAT'S NEXT
Following this afternoon's matchup with NJIT the Catamounts will head to Binghamton for their last road game of the regular season on Wednesday, February 22. The start time for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The voice of Catamounts women's basketball, Ryan Zimmerman, will be on the radio call on WVMT.
 
RALLY AGAINST CANCER PRESENTED BY MASCOMA BANK
The Catamounts special edition lavender jerseys from today are being auctioned off with proceeds benefitting the UVM Cancer Center. Visit https://uvmathletics.com/auctions/index.aspx to place your bid, bidding starts at $125 and the auction will close Saturday, February 18 at 2 p.m.
 
Please also consider making a direct gift to support the important work of the UVM Cancer Center. Your support is critical to providing top-notch clinical care, and advancing cancer research right here in our community. Mascoma Bank bolsters its support and commitment by pledging to match up to $10,000 for the Rally Against Cancer games through the month of February. Donate Here