Articles

Vermont Women Win Third Straight ... Top Colgate 61-49 in TD Bank Classic

Details: Created on Saturday, 19 November 2011 04:34; Written by George Commo

Sam Simononis 13 points ... Lauren Buschmann 14 points, 10 rebounds

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Sophomore Sam Simononis scored a career-high 13 points and junior Lauren Buschmann added a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) to lead the Vermont Catamounts to a 61-49 victory over Colgate in the TD Bank Classic hosted by UVM at Patrick Gymnasium on Friday evening.

Vermont improves to 3-0 with the victory, while Colgate remains winless at 0-3 on the season.

“Sam played a great game tonight, she stepped up for us in key situations. I thought everyone that went into the game played well effort wise, really attacked and executed our game plan. This win is important in our progression as a team,” said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride.

UVM jumped out to an 8-2 lead four minutes into the game and extended the lead to nine on a 3-pointer by Simononis halfway through the first stanza. Vermont's lead grew to 13 on a layup by Buschmann with 2:38 remaining, but Colgate closed out the half with an 8-0 run to slice UVM's lead to five, 30-25, at halftime.

The Catamounts regained momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, holding Colgate scoreless and putting together a 9-1 run to push the lead back to 13 with 13:25 remaining.

A basket by Tricia Oakes at the 8:52 mark cut UVM's lead to seven, 45-38, but that was the closest Colgate would get the rest of the game. Another layup by Buschmann sparked an 8-0 spurt, which opened up a 16-point advantage for the Catamounts with six minutes remaining and Vermont was able to ease to its third straight win.

Simononis scored six of her 13 points behind a solid 6-for-6 effort from the foul line and added a career-high five steals. Freshman Niki Taylor chipped in a season-best 11 points and added nine rebounds, nearly recording her first career double-double.

Jhazmine Lynch led Colgate with a team-high 11 points and added six rebounds, while Oakes chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

The Catamounts shot 39.4 percent in the first half and finished the game shooting 35.9 percent from the floor. Colgate shot 36.2 percent from the field in the first half, including an 11-for-25 effort in the second stanza.

Vermont won the battle of the boards, out rebounding the Raiders 49-39 and 19-11 on the offensive glass, which game UVM a 17-4 advantage in second chance points. UVM also took advantage of the opponent's miscues. The Catamounts forced the Raiders into 24 points, while resulted in 18 points for UVM.

In the first game of the evening, six different Hawks reached double-figures as St. Joseph's (2-1) cruised to an 85-48 victory over Dartmouth (0-2).

The TD Bank Classic continues on Saturday (Nov. 19). Dartmouth and Colgate face each other at 5 p.m. and will be followed by St. Joseph's versus Vermont at 7 p.m.

Both games will be streamed via CatamounTV at UVMathletics.com for free. The Vermont game can be heard on WJOY-1230 AM and on the Internet at SportsJuice.com.