FINAL SCORE: No. 2 Albany 65, No. 7 Vermont 45
PORTLAND, Maine – Senior Kylie Butler had 13 points to lead Vermont, but Albany's Imani Tate boasted 16 of her own on 5-of-10 shooting as UVM fell to the Great Danes 65-45 in Saturday's America East Quarterfinals at Cross Insurance Arena.
 
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Hanna Crymble added 11 points in part marked by a perfect 4-for-4 clip at the free throw line. She also grabbed five rebounds to lead her teammates. In addition, Kristina White grabbed a pair of steals.
 
A defensive battle at both ends of the floor highlighted the first quarter. En route to a 10-7 advantage by period's end, UVM forced six Great Dane turnovers and notched half of its scoring as a result of takeaways. Butler put down a pair from the field for her four points in the stanza, while also picking up a block to help keep Albany to just 17.6 percent (3-for-17) shooting.
 
In the second quarter the tables started to turn in the Great Danes' favor, beginning with an 8-0 run. Butler halted the stretch with two makes from downtown to restore Vermont's advantage, but Tate and Mackenzie Trpcic answered and facilitated the final lead change of the evening. UVM clawed its way back inside five and even was within one with under 2:30 left, but Albany responded and took a six-point lead into the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Green and Gold strung together multiple mini-runs but were unable to contain Tate and Jessica Féquière, the latter of whom shot 5-for-6 in the third period and finished the night putting down 13 points. UVM constructed an 8-2 sequence in the middle of that on help from Butler (3), Crymble (3) and Candice Wright (2), however collective hot shooting by the Great Danes (12-for-18 in the quarter) proved too much to handle.
 
Despite a valiant fight by the Catamounts, Albany continued its strong shooting performance and swelled its lead to as much as 24 in the fourth quarter.
 
With the win, Albany (19-11) has advanced to the America East Semifinals and will face either No. 3 UMBC or No. 6 Hartford on Sunday afternoon. The Catamounts wrap up the 2016-17 campaign with a 9-20 mark.
 
The game closed out the Catamount careers of Butler as well as graduate student Kallie Banker.
 
Wright concludes her sophomore season with 93 career blocks, ranking fifth in program history and totaling the most swats by any Catamount through their second year. She is on pace to surpass Katie McNamara's (2001-05) all-time record of 102 early in her junior campaign.