Articles

Strong Second Half Effort Leads UVM Women's Basketball to Husky Classic Title

Details: Created on Sunday, 27 November 2011 04:29; Written by George Commo

Kayla Burchill 17 points, including 5-for-5 from three-point range

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

HOUSTON, TX – Freshman Kayla Burchill came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points, including a 5-for-5 effort from three-point range, and the Vermont Catamounts used a strong second half to earn a 72-60 victory over Texas Southern on the final day of the Husky Classic hosted by Houston Baptist at Sharp Gymnasium.

Vermont, which is off to its best start since the 2002-03 season (7-1), improves to 6-1 on the year and wins its second in-season touranament title of the year. UVM posted a 60-47 win over the hosts, Houston Baptist on Friday and won its own TD Bank Classic last weekend. Texas Southern falls to 1-3 on the year.

“I was extremely pleased with our team effort this afternoon,” said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride.

“Every game someone different steps up and I thought Kayla Burchill, Shanai Heber and Lauren Wheeler were particularly impressive tonight. Lauren Bushmann continues to be effective inside despite opponents efforts to key on her,” continued Gear McBride.

The Catamounts took a quick 6-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest, but the Tigers were able to erase the six-point deficit and mounted a 21-8 run over the next 10 minutes to push out in front, 21-14, with 5:13 remaining in the half. Texas Southern maintained its lead in the closing minutes of the stanza and took a 27-22 lead into halftime.

The Catamounts finished the half shooting 25.8 percent from the field (8-for-31), while the Tigers converted 35.7 percent of their shots from the floor (10-for-28). During the Texas Southern run, Vermont went 3-for-15 from the field.

The second half was a different game. Vermont shot a blistering 59.3 percent from the floor (16-for-27) and held the Tigers to 34.6 percent shooting in the half.

The Catamounts seized control of the game by opening the second half with a 19-3 run over the first seven minutes of action to take an 11-point lead, 41-30, with 13:07 remaining in the game.

Texas Southern sliced the lead to three, 41-38, on a layup by Kayla West at the 11:09 mark, but a quick 15-2 spurt, capped by a 3-pointer from Burchill allowed Vermont to build its biggest lead of the game, 56-40, with 6:40 left to play.

The Tigers made one last run at the Catamounts, cutting the UVM advantage to four on a 3-pointer by Gianne Fleming at the 4:00 mark, but that would be as close as Texas Southern would get the rest of the way.

Lauren Buschmann scored five consecutive points and UVM went 9-for-11 from the foul line over the final three minutes to secure the victory.

Burchill added seven rebounds to her game-high 17 points. Buschmann finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds. She was 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line on the afternoon. Sophomore Sam Simononis added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in a solid effort and Lauren Wheeler chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Fleming and Adijatu Disu paced Texas Southern with 10 points each. Fleming also contributed five rebounds.

“I am pleased to see the continued growth and improvement in our squad and look forward to getting back to New England,” continued Gear McBride.

Vermont returns to action on Thursday (Dec. 1) when it travels to Boston, Mass. to take on Northeastern. The game tips off at 12 p.m. at the Cabot Center. Live video of the game is also available on the Northeastern website at GoNU.com.

NOTES: Seven different players have reached double figures for UVM this season … The Catamounts out rebounded their opponents 97-64 in Houston this weekend … Kayla Burchill was 5-for-5 from three-point range in the game, the last time a Catamount made five or more three's was May Kotsopoulos (6) vs. New Hampshire on Feb. 22, 2009 … UVM scored a season-high 50 points in the second half … The Vermont bench outscored the Texas Southern bench 30-19 in the game … UVM won its 92nd game since 2001-02 when scoring 70 points or more, the Catamounts are 2-0 this season.