Articles

Taylor Leads Vermont Past Houston Baptist in Women's Basketball

Details: Created on Saturday, 26 November 2011 04:26; Written by George Commo

Rookie puts up 16 points/15 rebounds in Catamounts 60-47 win

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

HOUSTON, TX – Freshman Niki Taylor, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, posted her first career double-double with career-highs of 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Vermont Catamounts to a 60-47 victory over Houston Baptist in the first day of the Husky Classic hosted by HBU.

"Tonight's game wasn't the prettiest but we found a way to win,” said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride. “I thought we showed good resilience in the second half, especially when Houston Baptist made a push. Kayla Burchill and Sam Simononis hit a couple of big three's which gave us the space we needed."

"Niki Taylor had an incredible game for us tonight and without that effort, we probably don't win. Obviously that was important but we have also been focusing on team basketball so seeing five or six others players turn in meaningful performances is a great sign for us," continued Gear McBride.

Vermont moves to 5-1 on the year, while Houston Baptist remains winless at 0-5. The Catamounts are off to their best start since the 2002-03 campaign (7-1).

The Catamounts jumped out to a 12-3 lead, behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Kayla Burchill, at the 13:58 mark of the first half. Vermont then hit a drought, going 0-for-8 from the field over the next four minutes, while the Huskies climbed back into the game with a 7-0 run to make the score 12-10 in favor of UVM with 9:08 left in the half.

Sophomore Sam Simononis ended the dry spell for the Catamounts, converting a layup and sparking an 8-3 run that pushed UVM's lead out to seven, 20-13, with just over six minutes remaining in the stanza.

Junior Shanai Heber gave UVM an eight point lead, 24-16, at the 2:24 mark, but Houston Baptist closed out the first period with four free throws and cut the margin to four, 24-20, at the break.

Vermont shot 25 percent from the field in the first half (5-for-20), but out rebounded the HBU 29-17 and 12-1 on the offensive glass.

UVM pushed its lead back to eight in the opening minutes of the second half, but Houston Baptist tie the game up at 30-30 on a layup from Joselyn Pugh and an 8-0 spurt.

The Catamounts answered with a 12-3 run, ignited by eight points from Taylor, to take their first double-digit lead of the game, 45-33, with 8:52 left in the contest. The Huskies put together one last rally, slicing the lead to four, 48-44, on a pair of free throws by Devyn Weymouth, with 2:20 remaining in the half, but that would be as close as HBU would get the rest of the way.

Vermont limited Houston Baptist to just one field goal over the final two minutes and UVM went 6-for-8 from the foul line to secure the victory.

Lauren Buschmann added 13 rebounds for the Catamounts, contributing to UVM's dominate play inside. Vermont finished the game out rebounding Houston Baptist 53-31, 22-6 on the offensive glass. UVM out scored HBU 28-16 in the paint and posted 17-second chance points.

Taylor was the only Catamount to reach double figures, but Simononis, Lauren Wheeler and Kayla Burchill chipped in nine points each. Heber added eight points, six rebounds and a career-high six assists.

Weymouth led Houston Baptist with 14 points and Shanice Steenholdt chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.

Vermont will face Texas Southern on Saturday (Nov. 26) at 4 p.m. (EST) on the final day of the Husky Classic. The Tigers (1-2) picked up their first win of the year with a 63-54 victory over Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the opening game of the tournament.

"Texas Southern is athletic and played very well tonight. We'll have our hands full tomorrow and need to come ready to play from the opening tip," said Gear McBride.

NOTES: Lauren Buschmann reached double digits in the rebounding column for the third time in four games and matched her season-high 11 rebounds in the first half … She finished the game with 13, three shy of her career high … Taylor reached double figures in the scoring column for the third time in four games … UVM grabbed a season-high 53 rebounds tonight … Vermont moves to 9-0 under Gear McBride when holding opponents under 59 points and is 40-2 over the past three seasons … This was the first meeting between the two schools in women's basketball and the first win for UVM in the Lone Star State.