Final Score: Vermont 76, NJIT 51
BURLINGTON, Vt. – 61 points in the final three quarters helped Vermont (16-8, 8-2 AE) come out victorious over NJIT (8-14, 0-9 AE), 76-51, in their annual Rally Against Cancer Game Presented by Mascoma Bank on Thursday night at Patrick Gymnasium. Thursday's 25-point victory at home keeps the Catamounts undefeated at Patrick Gym against America East competition this season (5-0).
 
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COACH'S QUOTE
"I think in the second half, we did a much better job focusing on our defense, which fueled our offense," Mayer Women's Basketball Head Coach Alisa Kresge said. "Delaney hit some shots for us in stride and teammates finding her was really important, those back-to-back threes felt like the change in the game."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• By the first media timeout with 4:57 remaining of quarter one, Vermont found themselves all knotted up at 7-7 with the Highlanders. Emma Utterback led the charge with five points. Delaney Richason and Bella Vito each tallied two steals in the early minutes.
• Back-and-forth basketball continued for the remainder of the quarter, as both teams shot the ball well with NJIT going 6-11 from the floor and Vermont making 6-13. The Catamounts trailed by one point, 15-16, at the conclusion of quarter one. Utterback scored 11 of Vermont's 15 points to begin.
• Nikole Priede snatched the lead for the Catamounts, 17-16, scoring on Vermont's first offensive possession to start the second frame.
• A circus shot from Lyzi Litwinko as shot clock expired tied the score 19-19, but Priede answered with a bucket of her own on the other end, putting Vermont back on top, 21-19 with 6:14 left on the first half.
• The Catamounts orchestrated an 8-2 scoring run following Priede's layup, going 2-2 from the three-point line after Paula Gonzalez and Andjela Matic each pulled up from deep. Gonzalez scored five points in the offensive push by Vermont, raising their lead, 29-21.
• NJIT finished out the first half on a 7-6 scoring run, pursuing a comeback, but Olson's clutch block with 10 seconds left sent the Catamounts into halftime maintaining the seven-point lead, 35-28.
• Utterback kicked scoring off to begin the third quarter after swishing the Catamounts first three-point attempt, going up by double-digits, 38-28.
• Gonzalez found Richason under the basket at the 6:48 mark of the quarter, who proceeded to score her first points of the ballgame on a layup, forcing NJIT to call a timeout and figure out a gameplan. Vermont led 42-30.
• UVM concluded the third quarter on a 13-7 scoring run capped off by Richason cashing a buzzer beater from three to put Vermont up 55-37 going into the final quarter. Richason scored two three-pointers in the final 1:15 of the third quarter alone.
• Utterback exceeded 20 points for the sixth time this season with 7:46 remaining of gametime after making her jump shot from the shoulder of the paint swished in, bringing the Vermont lead to 59-39.
• Vermont never looked back, finishing play with a 17-12 run and ultimately defeating the Highlanders by 25 points, earning the 76-51 victory at home.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Utterback led all players in scoring, earning 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting alongside 1-for-2 from three point range. Utterback also contributed three assists, two rebounds, and three steals on the night.
• Vermont scored 61 points in the final three quarters. That is the most points the Catamounts have scored across three quarters this season.
• The Catamount's 76-point victory was one point shy of tying their season high total, which came back on Dec 16. when they defeated Duquesne 77-61 at Patrick Gym
• Richason went 2-2 (1.000 percent) from the three-point line for the first time this season, leading all Catamount's in three-point field goals made. Richason tallied 13 points, three rebounds, one assist, two steals, and a block.
• Vermont won the points in the paint battle 30-24 as well as the second chance fight 19-5. The Catamounts' bench also outscored NJIT's bench 23-13.
• Vermont is now 6-2 overall on the season after a loss and 2-0 following a loss during America East play.
• UVM shot better in all three categories Thursday night, shooting 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the floor, 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from three, and 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from the free throw line.

 
UP NEXT
Vermont returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 10) when they host UMBC in their annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day Presented by Vermont Mutual. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. ET at Patrick Gym. Tickets are available for purchase at UVMathletics.com/Tickets or by visiting the Patrick Gym Box Office on gameday.