FINAL SCORE: Vermont 73, Buffalo 55

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Senior Keira Hanson scored a season-high 20 points as Vermont (3-0, 0-0 AE) defeated Buffalo (0-3, 0-0 MAC) by 18 points on Wednesday evening at Patrick Gym for its third straight win to open the regular season.

RELATED LINKS

Box Score | CatamounTV Highlights

COACH'S QUOTE

"I thought our offense was pretty solid," said Mayer Women's Basketball Head Coach Alisa Kresge. "Obviously, we had a little moal there in the second quarter. But knowing how aggressive Buffalo was going to be, we haven't been able to really knock that in practice. So, you know, 17 turnovers is not ideal, but some of those were self-inflicted, silly decisions. So, I thought for the most part, we were able to get into some looks that we wanted to get into, against a really aggressive defense, mixing it up a little bit, you see a little zone, and then we did a good job of executing those."

HOW IT HAPPENED

• At the first timeout of the game, the Catamounts jumped out to an early 8-0 lead as senior Nikola Priede scored on a layup off an assist from senior Catherine Gilwee for her first points of the day.

• Hanson extended the lead to 16-6 with two minutes left in the first quarter, finishing a layup off an assist from sophomore Emma Haan, then hitting a short jumper on the next possession.

• Buffalo cut the Catamounts' lead to five with 8:25 left in the second quarter, as senior Ally Carman connected on a hook shot and junior Paula Lopez knocked down a three-pointer.

• Senior Jadyn Weltz found Priede on the roll for an easy bucket, giving Vermont a 28-19 advantage with 1:25 remaining in the half. Gilwee added a pull-up jumper with 36 seconds left to send the Catamounts into the break up 30-19.

• Hanson drained her first three-pointer of the night from the left corner to make it 35-19 just before the first media timeout of the second half. Haan followed with her first points of the game, a three-pointer off an assist from junior Malia Lenz, to push the lead to 49-23 with 3:37 left in the third.

• Sophomore Savanna Creal converted a three-point play with 8:54 remaining in the fourth quarter to make it 56-31. 

• Weltz added a step-back three with 6:39 to go, bringing her total to 11 points and extending Vermont's lead to 59-36.

• Buffalo responded with seven straight points to trim the deficit to 61-43 with 4:02 left to play.

• With 29 seconds remaining, senior Annemarie Batista grabbed a missed free throw from first-year Jacklynn Hosier and laid it in to seal a 73-55 final.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Hanson led all Catamounts with 20 points. 

• Priede added 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double. 

• Lenz grabbed nine rebounds and chipped in four points.  

• Weltz dished out a team-high six assists and scored 12 points.

• The Catamounts shot 54.9% from the field, hitting 28 of 51 attempts.

• The Catamounts' largest lead of the night was 28 points.

• With today's Win, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group will donate $100 to the Lund Family Center through the Cat's Win, Community Win's initiative. Vermont Mutual has donated over $5 Million Dollars since launching their Charitable Giving Fund in 2014.

UP NEXT

Vermont plays its first away game of the regular season at Lehigh, on Saturday, Nov. 15. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN+. The radio broadcast will be available on the Varsity Network App with Ryan Zimmerman on the call.