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BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Vermont women's basketball team travels to Brooklyn, New York to take on St. Francis Brooklyn on Wednesday (Dec. 17). Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com). The game will also be streamed online for free via NECFrontRow.com. Wednesday marks just the third meeting between the two teams. Vermont has won back-to-back games and stands at 2-7, while St. Francis is 3-6 on the year and coming off a 61-55 loss at Army.
LAST TIME OUT - Vermont 82, Wagner 75 (OT)
Freshman Sydney Smith set a new career-high for the sixth straight game, pouring in 25 points to lead Vermont past Wagner in overtime ... Smith hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime ... Vermont out scored Wagner 14-7 in overtime to post the come-from-behind win. Niki Taylor, playing in her 100th career game, added 16 points, 10 in overtime, and 12 rebounds for her eighth career double-double. Emilie Cloutier added her second straight double-double with 13 points and a game-high 16 boards.
RELATED LINKS
Game Coverage - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Game Notes (.pdf)
Moes Moement of the Week - Sydney Smith
CatamounTV Highlights - Wagner
ABOUT ST. FRANCIS
St. Francis stands at 3-6 on the year and is coming off a 61-55 loss at Army on December 8 ... Sarah Benedetti scored a season-high 17 points and became the Terriers all-time leader in 3-point field goals (219) ... Benedetti is 11 points shy of the 1,000 point milestone and would be the 13th member of the elite club ... Jaymee Veney leads three Terriers in double figures, averaging 11.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game ... Eilidh Simpson ranks second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game, while Benedetti is chipping in 10.3 points per game ... Leah Fechko leads the team in rebounding, collecting 7.2 caroms per contest ... As a team, St. Francis leads the NEC in scoring defense, holding opponents to 62.9 points per game and ranks first in free throw percentage at 76.2 percent ... The Terriers are averaging 53.7 points per game and shooting 34.4 percent from the floor and 27.6 percent from 3-point range ... SFC is being out rebounded 38.9 to 31.0 on the boards ... Head coach John Thurston is in his third season on the St. Francis sidelines.
THE SERIES
Wednesday is the third meeting between the two teams, UVM leads the series 2-0 ... The teams are meeting for the first time in 11 years. they last met at Patrick Gymnasium on 11/21/03, with the Catamounts coming away with a 72-51 victory ...UVM is making its first visit to St. Francis.
SMITH REPEATS AS AMERICA EAST ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Sydney Smith picked up her second straight America East Rookie of the Week honor on Monday. She has set a new career-high for the sixth straight game, including pouring in 25 points in an overtime win against Wagner in the lone game of the week for the Catamounts ... She is averaging 18.5 points per game over the last six contests.
RAISING THE BAR
Sydney Smith has set new career-highs in six straight games:
11 points at Central Connecticut
14 points vs. Delaware
18 points at No. 21 Syracuse
20 points at Sacred Heart
23 points vs. Dartmouth
25 points vs. Wagner
TAYLOR COLLECTS 600
Senior Niki Taylor is nearly averaging 10.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for the Catamounts ... She became the 15th Catamount to reach the 600 rebound mark with nine at No. 21 Syracuse ... She ranks among the active leaders in America East in scoring (2nd - 920 career pts) and steals (5th - 101 career) ... Taylor ranks first among active leaders in rebounding in the league (625 career) and second in the league in rebounding (8.1 rpg) this season ... She is closing in the 1,000-career point milestone, entering the game 80 shy of the mark ... The Wagner game marked her 100th career game in a Vermont uniform.
WHO'S NEXT
Vermont closes out the first semester with a trip to Green Bay, Wisconsin to take on the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix on Saturday (Dec. 20). Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST) and the game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM (online: SportsJuice.com) with Kevin Fitzgerald calling the action. The game will also be streamed online via ESPN3. Following the game, the Catamounts will have a nine-day break before returning to action on December 30 when they host Cornell at Patrick Gymnasium at 7 p.m.
