FINAL SCORE: Vermont 83, New Hampshire 63 BURLINGTON, Vt. –
Kylie Atwood led four Catamounts in double-figures with a career-high 20 points to lead Vermont past New Hampshire 83-63 in America East action on Wednesday night at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts improve to 7-13 (2-5) on the season as UNH falls to 7-13 (1-6).
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CatamounTV Highlights"We made some lineup adjustments to try and shake up our offense and I'm incredibly proud of the way the ladies responded," head coach
Lori Gear McBride noted. "
Kylie Atwood was a lightning rod for us off the bench, we got another great all-around performance from Dre (Thomas) and
Gracia Hutson really equalized UNH's strong inside game. The seniors made tonight happen."
Atwood topped her previous career-best by six points, while tying her career-high with four assists.
Andreana Thomas also scored 20 points, pulled down seven rebounds, dished out six assists and grabbed three steals. It marked Thomas' fifth 20-point performance of her career.
Sydney Smith recorded 12 points and
Candice Wright chipped in 10 points in the Catamounts' convincing win. As a team, Vermont went 21-for-22 from the foul line, nearly matching its NCAA season-best showing against UMass Lowell two games ago. The Catamounts are 53-for-60 (88.3-percent) from the stripe in their last three matchups.
Elizabeth Belanger posted a game-high 24 points and Carlie Pogue added 17 points and seven rebounds for UNH in a losing effort.
Belanger scored six unanswered points to give the Wildcats a two-point edge midway through the first quarter, but a pull-up jumper by Atwood from downtown plus a pair from the foul line put the Catamounts up 16-13.
A three-ball from
Hayley Robertson opened up the second quarter and knotted the teams at 19 apiece. A loose ball was grabbed by
Katie Lavelle and dished out to Atwood for a layup, fueling an 11-2 Vermont run to push ahead 30-21. UVM went 4-for-6 from the field and picked up two steals over the six-minute string.
At the half Vermont led UNH 33-30, as Atwood and Thomas combined for 19 of the Catamounts' 33 points. The Wildcats held a 26-14 edge on the boards, but UVM connected on 50-percent (5-for-10) from three-point range.
Despite Vermont's 12-point cushion (46-34) early in the third UNH found itself within a single possession with 1:13 left to play in the period, but that's as close as the Wildcats would get.
Atwood and Robertson strung together a 10-0 run with a jumper and three-pointer apiece as Vermont took its largest lead of the game (76-56) with two minutes remaining. Thomas made three more trips to the charity stripe in the final moments, going 7-of-8, and secured UVM's 20-point victory over the Wildcats.
"Tonight was full of positives. I was most pleased with the way we responded to UNH's push late in the third quarter and put the game away," McBride noted. "We shot the ball extremely well in the second half, limited turnovers and had a really balanced scoring effort from the team."
Vermont gears up for back-to-back road contests, starting with Stony Brook on Saturday (Jan. 30). Tip-off against the Seawolves is set for 2 p.m. Radio coverage begins 20 minutes prior to tip-off on WVMT 620-AM and SportsJuice.com with Jamie Scavotto calling the action. All conference games can also be viewed for free via AmericaEast.tv.