Senior Morgan Hall scored a game-high 28 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out four assists to lead Vermont past Binghamton, 79-58, for the Catamounts first road win in the America East this season.
The win also gave head coach Keith Cieplicki his 120th career victory, tying the all-time mark in the women’s basketball program set by Cathy Inglese. Inglese, the current head coach at Boston College, posted a record of 120-74 (.619) in seven seasons at Vermont. Cieplicki’s record stood at 120-51 after the victory at Binghamton.
Hall, who scored the game’s first 5 points and 17 of her 28 points in the opening 20 minutes, turned the game over to her teammates in the second half. UVM’s post duo of Aaron Yantzi and Katie McNamara combined for 31 points and 12 rebounds in the contest. Theresa LaRocque added seven points and Dawn Cressman chipped in eight points.
The Catamounts shot 50% from the floor and forced Binghamton into 20 turnovers for the game. Jen Blues led the Bearcats with 14 points, while Rachel Laws and Kate Townley added 10 points each
Cieplicki then became the winningest coach in Vermont Women’s Basketball history as the Cats rolled past Northeastern 76-65 on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Katie McNamara scored a game-high 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting and grabbed five rebounds for the Cats.
Northeastern held a slim 9-8 lead early in the game, but a jumper by McNamara at 12:39 ignited an 11-3 Vermont run that would give the Catamounts an 11-point lead, 22-11, with 8:41 left in the first half. Another 16-2 spurt capped on a three-point play by sophomore Lani Boardman would allow UVM to push its lead to 26, 41-15, with 1:58 left. The Catamounts would take a 43-20 lead into the locker room.
Junior Aaron Yantzi scored 10 of her 16 points in the opening 20 minutes and Vermont forced the Huskies into 16 first half turnovers.
Northeastern (8-15, 6-6) regrouped in the locker room, opening the second half with an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 48-31 with 14:46 remaining. Vermont answered with an 8-2 spurt, behind six points from Morgan Hall, to go back up 56-33 with 11:18 left.
NU’s Joi Jefferson drained two three-pointers as the Huskies scored eight straight points to make the score 56-41. Northeastern closed out the game with a 7-3 run getting as close as 10, 75-65, with 16 seconds left but the Catamounts would hang on for the victory.
The Huskies shot a blistering 63.3% from the field in the second half and 56% for the game. Zwarich led Northeastern with 17 points and five rebounds. Aisha Williams added 13 points, while Jefferson chipped in 10. Francesca Vanin grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and added nine points.
The Catamounts scored 23 points on 22 NU turnovers and shot 49.2% from the field. Vermont also made 15-of-19 free throws, while Northeastern attempted just seven (3-for-7). Hall finished the game with 19 points and nine assists.
The Catamounts return to action Wednesday when they travel to Durham, New Hampshire for a 7:00pm game at Lundholm Gym
-SportsInfo
