FINAL SCORE – Vermont 48, Maine 64
ORONO, MAINE – The Catamounts bid for back-to-back Jersey Mike's America East Championships came up short at Maine, 64-48, on Friday night. With the victory Maine improves to 24-9 (14-2 AE) to clinch the America East's NCAA automatic qualifying bid. With the defeat Vermont falls to 22-11 (12-4 AE) on the season.
 
RELATED LINKS
Postgame Press Conference
Box Score | Box Score (.pdf)
Photo Gallery
 
COACH'S QUOTE
"I am so proud of this group," said Mayer Head Women's Basketball Coach Alisa Kresge. "We wish it had been a different outcome. I know we are going to grow from this and hopefully it's not the last game playing with [Emma and Delaney]. We knew two things that we were going to have to do, outrebound them and limit turnovers, and we didn't do either of those coming into this game. There's a lot of people on our roster that have seen both sides of this, how fun it can be and how much it can hurt, we've got to build on this."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Maine opened the scoring with a three from Olivia Rockwood on their first possession and never looked back. The Black Bears jumped to an early 11-6 lead heading into the first media timeout. Adrianna Smith led Maine with eight points, while Anna Olson led Vermont with four.
• The Catamounts were able to trim the lead to 13-9 after the break, before Maine rattled off five quick points to take a 18-9 lead. Emma Utterback nailed a jumper from the top of the key to send the game into the second quarter with Maine leading 18-11.
• Vermont put on the clamps to start the second quarter holding Maine scoreless for the first 4:18 of the quarter and drawing to within 18-15.
• The two teams battled back-and-forth over the next three minutes with Maine holding a 24-20 advantage. Vermont outscored the Black Bears 7-6 over that span led by four points from Olson and two from Utterback.
• Maine got their offense going in the final two plus minutes of the first half doubling up Vermont 10-2 to take a 34-22 lead.
• Andjela Matic knocked down a right wing three at the buzzer to for Vermont to stop the run and send the game into halftime with a score of 34-25.
• Maine began the third quarter much like the first half, with an 11-4 run spanning over five minutes, to take a 45-29 lead into the first media timeout of the second half. Anne Simon and Rockwood led the Black Bears with four points each. Bella Vito and Olson scored two apiece for Vermont during that span.
• The two teams went back-and-forth over the final minutes of the third quarter with Maine holding just a 6-4 advantage but were still able to extend their lead to 51-33 heading into the fourth.
• The two teams continued to go at each other in the fourth quarter, with Maine maintaining an 18 point lead, 58-40, following a Simon jumper with 5:34 remaining.
• As the Catamounts have done all season, they would not go down without a fight. Hanson made a layup with 3:53 remaining to cap a 13-7 Vermont run and cut the deficit to 12, 58-46. Olson scored five for the Catamounts while Hanson added four on the run. Vermont shot 5-of-7 during that span while Maine shot 3-of-10. Smith led the Black Bears with four.
• However, that was the closest the Catamounts would get as Maine hit their shots down the stretch to seal the 64-48 victory.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Olson led the Catamounts with 21 points on 9-of-15 (60%) from the floor and tied a team lead with seven rebounds. She also registered a game-high three blocks.
• Matic finished second on the team with nine points to go along with two rebounds and an assist.
• Utterback led the Catamounts with a game-high six assists alongside six points, three rebounds and two steals.
• Delaney Richason and Utterback each played in their 132 career game as a Catamount, setting the Vermont program record.
• Utterback was named to the 2024 Jersey Mike's America East All-Championship Team for the third consecutive season. Olson earned the nod for the second consecutive season.

 
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