WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
No. 15 Vermont (25-6, 14-2 AE) will clash with No. 2 UConn (29-5, 18-2 Big East) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon in Storrs, Conn. The opening tip is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast live on ABC, it will be the Catamount's first-ever national network TV appearance.
 
TELEVISION AND BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday afternoon's matchup between the Catamounts and Huskies will be nationally televised on ABC with Beth Mowins and Christy Thomaskutty on the call. Ryan Zimmerman will have the call on WVMT, which will air on 96.3 FM and 620 AM.
 
RELATED LINKS
Watch: ABC/ESPN3
Live Stats
Listen Live 
Pregame Presser: Coach Kresge | Utterback | Richason | Gilwee | Olson
NCAA Tournament: Tickets | NCAA Bracket
Game Notes: Vermont | UConn
 
WATCH PARTIES
Fans in the Burlington area who cannot make it to Connecticut are invited to the Windjammer & Upper Deck Pub, Nectar's, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery and the UVM Alumni House for Watch Parties for Saturday afternoon. The Alumni House doors will open at 2 p.m.
 
PREGAME EVENT IN STORRS
The University of Vermont is excited to host a pregame gathering for our Catamount fans! Enjoy pregame snacks before heading to the game. Join us at Storrs Graduate Hotel (855 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT), which is a six-minute walk from Gampel Pavilion.
 
TICKETS IN THE VERMONT BLOCK
We are currently finalizing seating and will have all tickets distributed to fans shortly.  Please remember that the ticket is digital and we recommend accepting and downloading your ticket prior to arriving at Gampel Pavilion to ensure you do not have any problems.
 
Your ticket will be good for both games in the session on Saturday, March 18.  Vermont and UConn tipoff at 3:00 p.m. followed by #7 Baylor and #10 Alabama at 5:30 p.m.  Doors will open 90 minutes prior to the first game.
 
UConn has provided this link to assist with directions for downloading, transferring and accepting your tickets. We will have UVM representation (Mike, Assistant Ticket Manager and/or Katherine, Victory Club Coordinator) at the Box Office at Gampel Pavilion's North Entrance if you have any issues as well.
 
DOMINANT AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONS
The Catamounts stifling defense helped UVM dominate on their way to its seventh America East Championship and first under Head Coach Alisa Kresge. Vermont held teams to just 49.3 points per game on 36.9 percent shooting and 32.5 percent from three. Vermont tied an America East Championship game record with 53 rebounds against UAlbany and throughout the three games of the Jersey Mike's America East Tournament averaged 43.7 boards per game on their way to a +13.7 margin. Vermont's defense held the Great Danes to 14 made field goals, the fewest in an America East title game ever. Senior guard Emma Utterback led the way for Vermont earning Most Outstanding Player of the tournament on 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on 38.5 percent shooting from the floor.
 
CATAMOUNTS NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Catamounts are 1-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. With their win coming against Wisconsin (64-55) in their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010. In that game senior Courtnay Pilypaitis scored a game-high 25 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. Vermont has faced UConn one other time in the NCAA Tournament losing 104-69 in 2009 to the Huskies team that would go on be the undefeated National Champions.
 
Not including its 2009 setback at UConn, Vermont has lost their other five matchups by an average margin of 8.0 points per game with two games decided by five points or less. In their seven NCAA Tournament games the Catamounts are averaging 65.4 points per game and have scored at least 60 points in every one of their NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
This will be the Catamounts first time as a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Vermont's best-ever seed was an eight in 1993. Vermont is the only team in America East to ever host an NCAA Tournament game. In the 1993 first round the Catamounts lost 80-74 to Rutgers at Patrick Gym.
 
ALL STARTS ON THE DEFENSIVE END
The Catamounts rank eighth in team defense in the country allowing just 52.8 points per game and during their 17-game win streak have allowed less than 53 points 10 times. The Catamounts are holding teams to 36.5 percent shooting from the field which is ranked 28th in the country. Vermont is also holding teams to just 27.4 percent from behind the arc which is 27th nationally. 13 times this year Vermont has held their opponents to under 50 points and seven times have kept their opponents from scoring 40 points. 23 out of the 31 opponents UVM has faced have failed to reach 60 points against the Catamounts. 
 
TOPS IN THE AMERICA EAST
The Catamounts were second in the conference in scoring at 61.6 per game and first in points allowed and scoring margin, giving up just 52.8 points per game with a plus 8.8 scoring margin. Vermont led America East in team field goal percentage (43.1 percent) while also leading the conference in opponent field goal percentage (36.5 percent). UVM also ranked first in the conference in three-point percentage converting 36.5 percent of their chances behind the arc.
 
Emma Utterback finished fourth in America East and leads the Catamounts with 14.0 points per game. Anna Olson was 10th in scoring at 11.7 per contest. Catherine Gilwee finished 18th at 10.5 points per game and was also tied for first draining 2.3 three pointers per game on 37.8 percent shooting which was second in the conference. Olson led the conference in field goal percentage at 51.3 percent. Utterback is 12th in field goal percentage at 41.2 percent from the field. Utterback was also first in the conference in total assists (130), first in assists per game (4.2) and finished third in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.6).
 
SCOUTING CONNECTICUT
The No. 2 Huskies enter Saturday's First Round matchup ranked sixth in the country and most recently defeated Villanova 67-56 in the Big East Tournament Championship. In the regular season, the Huskies finished 18-2 in conference play to also clinch the Big East regular season championship.
 
The Huskies are led by USBWA Third Team All-American Aaliyah Edwards who has started all 34 games for UConn this year. She is averaging 16.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 blocks per game on 57.3 percent shooting from the floor. Graduate student Lou Lopez Senechal has also started every game for UConn this season and is second in scoring at 15.7 per game while chipping in 3.2 rebounds and leading the team with 71 three pointers made on 43.0 percent shooting. Junior Nika Muhl leads the Huskies and is third in the country with 7.8 assists per game while averaging 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
This will be the 11th matchup all-time between the two teams and will be the first one since December 2009. The first matchup between UConn and UVM was January 19, 1980. In their previous 10 matchups, the Catamounts are averaging 59.0 points per game and surrendering 86.9 points per game.
 
UCONN AGAINST AMERICA EAST IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Saturday afternoon will be the Huskies seventh time facing an America East opponent in the First Round and sixth time hosting an AE opponent at Gampel Pavilion in March Madness. The Huskies average margin of victory in those six games is 43.5 points. Maine in 1995 kept it the closest with a 30-point UConn win with a final score of 105-75.
 
AMERICA EAST SUCCESS IN MARCH MADNESS
In the women's NCAA Tournament America East teams have earned five victories. In 1999 Maine was the first defeating the seven-seed Stanford. That was followed by Hartford (11-seed) in 2006, Hartford (10-seed) in 2008, Vermont (10-seed) in 2010. Most recently it was UAlbany over Florida in 2016. The Great Danes were a 12-seed, and are the lowest seeded AE team to pick up an NCAA Tournament win. Of course, on the men's side in 2018 UMBC became the first-ever 16-seed to win a game defeating Virginia 75-54.
 
15-SEED HISTORY IN MARCH MADNESS
Remarkably the 15-seed's and 14-seeds in the history of the Women's NCAA Tournament are both 0-112. A 13-seed has won 10 times in women's history and advanced to the Sweet 16 twice. One 16-seed has also won on the women's side, in 1998 Harvard shocked the world with a 71-67 win over Stanford, which ended the Cardinal's 59-game home winning streak at Maples Pavilion.
 
In the men's tournament 11 15-seeds have won their first-round game, including Princeton over Arizona yesterday afternoon. In each of the last two men's tournaments a 15-seed has reached the Sweet 16.