Articles

Catamounts Fall to Northeastern in Women's Basketball

Details: Created on Friday, 02 December 2011 12:35; Written by George Commo

Freshman Shavonne White scored a career-high 23 points, but it wasn't enough

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

BOSTON, MA. – Vermont freshman Shavonne White scored a career-high 23 points, but it wasn't enough as the Northeastern Huskies used a balanced scoring attack to earn their first win of the year, 78-62, over the Catamounts in non-conference women's basketball action at Solomon Court on Thursday afternoon.

"Northeastern deserves a ton of credit on several levels today. First of all, they did a tremendous job filling their gymnasium and creating a great home court advantage for themselves with their promotion of the game (approximately 900 middle school students were in attendance as part of an all-day promotion with three area schools). It was an impressive environment. They also played with great energy and intensity and hit shots when they needed them," said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride.

White, who entered the game with seven points in six games, came off the bench to explode for a game-high 23 points and made five 3-pointers. Classmate Kayla Burchill, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, added 17 points and also hit five 3-pointers. Junior Lauren Buschmann, the reigning America East Player of the Week, posted her third double-double of the season with 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

"I am really pleased by the manner in which Shavonne elevated her game today. We needed her to play increased minutes and she gave us great effort defensively and great production on the offensive end. What she did today is something we all knew she was capable of but it is always nice to see it finally come together," continued Gear McBride.

Christine Huber led the balanced offensive output for the Huskies, coming off the bench to score a team-high 17 points and grab a game-high 14 rebounds. Jamie Conroy and Deanna Kerkhof added 16 points each and Dani Iervolino chipped in 13 points.

The first nine minutes of the game was tightly contested and featured three ties and two lead changes. A 3-pointer by Burchill gave UVM a 14-11 advantage at the 12:31 mark of the half, but the Huskies answered with seven straight points to push out in front by four, 18-14, with 9:38 remaining in the half. Northeastern would not relinquish the lead the rest of the game.

Kerkof converted a layup with just 2:38 remaining in the stanza to give Northeastern its largest lead of the half, 33-22. The Catamounts closed the margin to six in the final 2:19 with a 7-2 spurt, capped by a layup from Buschmann at the halftime buzzer.

Northeastern went to the locker room with a 35-29 lead. The Huskies were aided by turning 11 UVM turnovers into 15 points in the first half.

NU's lead grew to 12 in the first five minutes of the second half and the Huskies maintained a seven-point advantage until the six-minute mark. Burchill hit another 3-pointer and Lauren Wheeler added a layup to slice the lead to four with 5:31 remaining, but the Huskies were able to hit 14 of 17 free throws over the final five minutes of the game to seal the victory.

"Our biggest breakdown happened defensively and it is something we will work on and stress in the next few days in preparation for our trip to Brown next week. The team has played a lot of basketball in the past couple of weeks and we now have a great opportunity to go back to our classroom – the practice sessions – and really work at all areas of our game."

Vermont falls to 6-2 on the season, while Northeastern improves to 1-6 overall.

The Catamounts will continue an eight-game road swing when they travel to Providence, R.I. to take on the Brown Bears on Wednesday (Dec. 7). That game will tip off at 5 p.m.