Articles

Marquette Holds Off Vermont in Women's Basketball

Details: Created on Thursday, 22 December 2011 04:17; Written by George Commo

Cats Down Just Four With 2:38 to Play

Courtesy Vermont Sports Information

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Apiew Ojulu scored a career-high 25 points and added five rebounds to lead Marquette to a 71-60 victory over visiting Vermont at the Al McGuire Center on Wednesday afternoon. Marquette improves to 8-5 overall, while Vermont falls to 6-5 on the season.

“I thought we played as hard and as complete a game as we have played this season and while the final result was not in our favor, there were a lot of positives to take from this game. Marquette is very talented and well coached and they did what they needed to do to win but our kids did their best to make sure it wasn't easy. We continually put pressure on them and it wasn't until the last minute that they were able to pull away,” said Gear McBride.

“Despite the size difference, we really battled and got great efforts from several players. We never quit today and as a coach, you can't be anything but proud of that,” continued Gear McBride.

The Golden Eagles held an 18-5 lead six minutes into the game. The Catamounts were able to erase the deficit with a 16-3 run, which included back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Kayla Burchill, and knot the game up at 21-21 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.

Arlesia Morse hit a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-2 spurt for the Golden Eagles and allowed Marquette to push out to an eight-point lead, 31-23, with 4:45 left in the first half. UVM responded again with a 10-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from freshman Tierra Shumpert, to give the Catamounts their first lead of the game, 33-31, with under three minutes remaining in the half.

The Golden Eagles were able to score twice in the final minutes to take a 35-33 lead at the break.

The second half was also tightly contested and featured two lead changes and five ties in the first nine minutes of action. A layup by Kristine Lalonde evened the score, 47-47, at the 11:28 mark, but Marquette's Katherine Plouffe matched Lalonde with a layup to give the Golden Eagles a 49-47 lead.

Marquette was able to extended its lead to nine, 62-53 at the 4:32 mark. UVM sliced the lead to four, 64-60, with a 7-2 spurt behind five points from Lauren Buschmann, at the 2:38 mark, but that was as close as Vermont could get the rest of the way. Marquette was able to hold the Catamounts without a point for the remainder of the game to post the victory.

“Today was a great example of the progression our program has made in the last year. To come out to Milwaukee and compete for 40 minutes the way we did is really exciting as we head into the holiday break,” said Vermont head coach Lori Gear McBride.

Buschmann led Vermont in scoring with 21 points, scoring 12 in the first half, and added five rebounds. Burchill, who made her first career start, added 12 points, all from three-point range, and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Sophomore Sam Simononis added 10 points to round out the leading scorers for UVM.

Plouffe added 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for Marquette, while Morse and Gabi Minix added 11 points each for the Golden Eagles.

The Catamounts will break for the holidays. Vermont closes out its eight-game road swing at the Blue Sky Classic hosted by Dartmouth on Dec. 29-30 in Hanover, N.H. On December 29, UVM takes on No. 17 Georgetown at 5 p.m. and will face La Salle on December 30, also at 5 p.m. Live video of the games will be available on a pay-per-view basis at DartmouthSports.com.