Articles

UVM Women's Basketball Wins TD Bank Classic with Victory Over Saint Joseph's

Details: Created on Sunday, 20 November 2011 06:46; Written by George Commo

Niki Taylor leads four Catamounts in double figures with 15 points

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Freshman Niki Taylor led four Catamounts in double figures with 15 points and added eight rebounds to help lead Vermont to an 80-67 victory over Saint Joseph's in the final day of the 2011 TD Bank Classic.

With the victory, Vermont wins its own tournament for the seventh time overall and first time since 2007. The Catamounts improve to 4-0 on the year, while Saint Joseph's moves to 2-2.

"I'm so proud of our team. They work so hard and they deserve to feel this. You can see the effort on the floor and how hard they work and how much they love playing together. I think all of our hard work in practice is starting to pay off," said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride.

The Catamounts gained control of the game early, outscoring the Hawks 19-4 to start the contest. Saint Joseph's was limited to 2-for-13 shooting from the floor and turned the ball over six times in the opening eight minutes. The Catamounts scored eight of their 19 points off the SJU miscues.

UVM led 17, 33-16, with 5:03 remaining in the half, but Ashley Prim sparked an 11-3 run for Saint Joseph's to help trim the deficit to eight with under a minute to go. The Catamounts responded with a pair of free throws from Kristine Lalonde and a layup by Shanai Heber to push UVM's lead back to 12, 39-27, at the break.

Saint Joseph's shot just 31 percent (9-for-29) in the first 20 minutes, while the Catamounts hit 43.8 percent (14-for-32) from the floor for the first half.

UVM continued to control the game in the second half. With Vermont leading 59-46 and 7:58 remaining Saint Joseph's made one last run to slice the lead to eight, 60-52, with 5:29 left. Vermont answered with an 11-2 run, behind five points from freshman Tierra Shumpert, to open a 71-54 lead with 3:03 left to seal the victory.

Vermont shot a season-high 48 percent from the field, including a blistering 55.6 in the second half, and 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from three-point range, while Saint Joseph's converted 35.3 percent of its shots (24-for-68) for the game.

Taylor was named to the all-tournament team and Heber was selected as the tournament MVP. Heber finished the game with 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lalonde added 11 points and a career-high nine assists. Freshman Kayla Burchill also reached double figures in the scoring column for the Catamounts, coming off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and chip in 11 points while grabbing six rebounds.

Prim and Kelly Cavallo represented Saint Joseph's on the all-tournament team. Prim paced the Hawks with a game-high 17 points and Cavallo added a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

In the first game of the evening, Faziah Steen scored a game-high 19 points and the Dartmouth Big Green held off a second half rally by Colgate to earn a 56-50 victory.

Vermont will close out a four-game homestand and a stretch of four games in seven days when it hosts Dartmouth on Tuesday (Nov. 22) at 5 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium.

Live video of the game is also available for free via CatamounTV at UVMathletics.com.

Tickets to the game can be purchased online at UVMathletics.com, via the phone at 802-656-4410 or in person the day of the game.

2011 TD Bank All-Tournament Team
Faziah Steen, Dartmouth
Jhazmine Lynch, Colgate
Kelly Cavallo, Saint Joseph's
Ashley Prim, Saint Joseph's
Niki Taylor, Vermont
Shanai Heber, Vermont – MVP

NOTES: Vermont improves to 2-0 against Saint Joseph's in the all-time series … The last time the two teams met was March 17, 2002 in the second round of the WNIT Postseason Tournament at Patrick Gymnasium … UVM won the game, 60-55, to earn its second-ever postseason victory … Vermont improves to 91-16 when it scores 70 points or more dating back to the 2001-02 season.