Women's Basketball Falls to Defending Champion Vermont in A-East Quarterfinals

West Hartford, Conn. - Alissa Sheftic scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, as Vermont posted a 61-36 victory over UAlbany in the quarterfinal round of the America East Conference Tournament on Friday, March 5 at the University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena.

The Catamounts, who are the defending conference champions, held UAlbany (11-19) to a tournament-record 16.9-percent shooting, including an 0-for-17 start to the second half. Vermont (24-6), the No. 2 seed, advanced to Sunday's semifinals and has won eight of its last nine contests.

Leading 32-22 early in the final stanza, the Catamounts took firm control with 12 unanswered. Sheftic, a 6-foot-3 senior, tallied the opening five points in that run, including an old-fashioned three-point play when she was fouled on a basket in the lane. May Kotsopoulos, a first-team all-conference guard and the league's top scorer, ended that stretch with a jumper and a three-point field goal from right of the key. Lauren Buschmann split a pair of free throws that gave her club a 20-point cushion.

"We ran into a brick wall today," said UAlbany coach Trina Patterson, whose team also scored a season-low 36 points on this same court against Hartford during the regular schedule. "Size mattered. The rebounding and physical nature of the game disturbed our flow."

In the opening period, Vermont used a string of 15 straight points to build a 16-3 margin. Kotsopoulos, who had 15 points, buried a 3-pointer in transition to put her team ahead. Sofia Iwobi later made a pair of baseline turnarounds, before Courtnay Pilypaitis found Tonya Young alone in the lane. Kotsopoulos hit a driving one-hander to complete the run.

The Great Danes got into the fray behind the play of Felicia Johnson, a sophomore guard who had all seven of her points in the half. Charity Iromuanya nailed a 3-pointer to slice the deficit to 27-20. However, UVM recovered when Kendra Soto sank a 12-foot baseline shot and Pilypaitis drilled a three-pointer from the right wing.

"Their size hurt us and they have a bunch of seniors," offered Iromuanya, who was named to the all-conference third team the previous day. "We rushed some shots. We should have pushed the ball more and not let them get set up (in their defense)."

Pilypaitis, a 6'1" senior and a first-team All-America East selection, recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Catamounts, who are receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 poll. Iromuanya, a senior guard playing in her final game as a collegian, led the Great Danes with 11 points.

Paw Prints: UAlbany and Vermont met for the first time in America East Conference post-season play ... the Catamounts swept the regular-season series, including a 72-63 decision at SEFCU Arena on Feb. 6 ... the Great Danes had won at least one conference tournament game in each of the last three seasons ... Charity Iromuanya scored in double figures 20 times this year, including the final six games of her career ... UAlbany shot 16.9 percent from the field (10-of-59) to break the tournament single-game record ... Hartford (2004) and Delaware (1997) shared the previous America East tourney mark of 25.5 percent.


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information