In a rematch of last year’s first-round NCAA tournament game, Vermont women’s basketball team (4-1) recently recorded their first loss of the season to the top-ranked  UConn Huskies, 84-42

The Huskies dominated the court in the first half, scoring 50 points to Vermont’s 18. The game started off almost even, as UConn led 5-4 at the first break. After the Huskies scored 11 unanswered points, the Catamounts could not catch up and the Huskies carried their momentum to the end.
“We played scared tonight and they are a strong team,” head coach Sharon Dawley said. “We were not moving well without the ball and at times looked as if we were in awe out there.”
UConn is the top team in the country, having won 46 consecutive games.
“You are playing a team that is beating teams by over forty points,” Dawley said. “It is scary walking into that to begin with.”
The Cats picked it up in the second half, raising their shooting percentage to 34.6 percent, up from 28.6 percent in the first.
Senior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis led Vermont with 20 points, nine from beyond the  arc, while collecting six rebounds.
“They are all around solid and do not make mistakes,” Pilypaitis said about UConn’s team.  “Anything you force them to do they excel at.”
Before this game, the Cats were on a roll, recording four wins to start the season.
On Nov. 25, the team defeated Dartmouth by a score of 83-59. Freshman guard Kendra Seto led the Catamounts in the game with 16 points. Pilypaitis picked up nine assists in that game and five steals.
UVM outrebounded Dartmouth 42-32 as freshman forward Lauren Buschmann led the way with eight. The Catamounts led the first half by seven points but then blew by Dartmouth scoring 53 points in the second half.