Final: Vermont 67, New Hampshire 58
BURLINGTON, VT – Vermont earned their first America East victory of the season, defeating New Hampshire 67-58 on Thursday night. With the victory Vermont improved to 9-6 overall on the season and 1-0 in conference play, while the Wildcats fell to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in America East play with the loss.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score | Box Score (pdf)
CatamounTV Highlights
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"At this point every game is really hard," said Head Mayer Women's Basketball Coach. "We've got to take the wins and enjoy it. Everybody is tough in this league. We have yet to show a consistency on both sides of the ball this season. I think there is a lot of growth still for us, and we're still figuring ourselves out offensively. We're going to have to share the ball because you can stop one or two players, but you can't stop the whole team."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Emma Utterback opened the scoring with a jumper with 8:29 in the first quarter to start a back-and-forth battle over the first five minutes.
• Keira Hanson knocked down a jumper for the Catamounts with 3:34 remaining to put Vermont up 12-10 with 3:34 remaining in the first quarter.
• New Hampshire closed out the quarter with an 8-2 run to seize an 18-14 lead heading into the first break. Breezie Williams (game-high 16 points) banked in a three from the left wing at the buzzer.
• The Wildcats continued their run into the second quarter maintaining their lead four point lead, 26-22, with 5:42 remaining following a Paige Cote jump shot.
• Vermont battled back over the last five plus minutes outscoring New Hampshire 12-8 to take the game into halftime at a tie 34-34. Andjela Matic and Anna Olson led the Catamounts with three points each during that span.
• The two teams again battled back-and-forth in the first four plus minutes of the second half with the Wildcats capturing a 41-38 lead following an Adara Groman free throw with 5:19 remaining.
• Matic converted on a jumper in the lane on the other end for Vermont to spark a 13-2 run to close the quarter. Olson led the Catamounts with six points to help Vermont take control with a 51-42 lead heading into the final stanza.
• UVM opened the fourth quarter with a quick 9-0 spurt sparked by four points from Utterback and three points from Nikola Priede to seize their largest lead of the night, 60-42. Delaney Richason knocked down two free throws with 5:47 remaining to cap the run.
• Cote converted a layup on the other end for the Wildcats to close the gap to 60-44, which helped spark a 8-2 spurt for UNH to cut it to 62-50.
• Utterback responded with a jumper with 1:31 remaining to give Vermont a 64-50 lead and close the door on New Hampshire's comeback.  
• Vermont connected on their free throws down the stretch to secure a 67-58 win in their America East opener.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Utterback finished with 14 points alongside a game-high five assists for the Catamounts. She shot 54.5 percent (6-for-11) from the field.
• Vermont won the rebounding battle 33-26.
• Olson recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
• Richason scored 10 points and finished 5-for-7 from the free throw line.
• Priede registered a career-high eight rebounds to go with five points.
• UVM shot 53.2 percent from the floor and held New Hampshire to 46.2 percent shooting.
• Vermont had five players score in double figures for the second time this season.

 
UP NEXT
Following tonight's game with the Wildcats, UVM will begin a three game conference road trip starting with Maine on Saturday, January 6. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the game for free on the Varsity Network App, from Learfield on WVMT, which will air on 96.3 FM in Burlington, 105.9 FM in Plattsburgh, and 620 AM around the rest of the region, with Ryan Zimmerman on the call.

Vermont Federal Credit Union is the presenting sponsor of Vermont Women's Basketball