Women's Basketball Falls in Battle for Second Place in America East Conference Standings

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – Amy Rosenkrantz and Courtnay Pilypaitis each had 17 points in leading Vermont to a 68-48 America East Conference victory over UAlbany on Saturday, Feb. 16 at SEFCU Arena. The Catamounts, who have won seven of their last nine games, moved into sole possession of second place in the conference standings.

The Great Danes, who trailed by as much as 15 in the opening half, closed within 34-30 early in the final period on an offensive rebound basket by Gia Sanders, a senior forward who had five points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Vermont (17-7, AE 8-3) responded with nine unanswered. Rosenkrantz, who made 7-of-10 from field, scored six in that run. She canned jumpers from the baseline and left elbow and later sank two foul shots for a 43-30 advantage with 15:51 remaining.

The Catamounts, who held the home team to 28.8-percent shooting on 19-of-66 attempts, were still ahead 49-38, but then pulled away with eight straight points. Pilypaitis, who recorded a triple-double in her last outing, hit a driving layup before May Kotsopoulos drilled a three-point field goal from the left corner. Pilypaitis, who added a career-high 14 rebounds to her scoring total, then connected on a three-point play when she was fouled on a scoop shot in the lane that provided her team with a commanding 19-point margin.

“That was a great team effort,” said Vermont coach Sharon Dawley, whose squad beat conference-leader Hartford three days ago. “We played unselfish basketball. Albany creates matchup problems with their lineup, but we did a nice job on the boards and defensively.”

Vermont rolled to a 9-0 lead at the start as UAlbany (9-15, AE 7-4) missed its opening eight field goal tries. The Catamounts were still in front 22-17, but then tallied 12 of the game’s next 14 points. Kelli Poles, a 6-foot-1 junior who had 10 of her 14 points in the period, hit a turnaround in the lane and Sy Janousek nailed a 3-pointer to ignite that outburst. Poles, who made 7-of-12 from the floor and grabbed nine rebounds, would later put back a missed three-pointer before Pilypaitis made two free throws for a 34-19 cushion.

The Great Danes, who had their five-game win streak halted, the longest since December 1998, got back into the contest by the intermission. Freshman guard Janea Aiken, who had all 12 of her points before the break, delivered a 3-pointer from the left corner. Britney McGee knifed through the lane for layup and Sherri Mikus split two free throws to slice the deficit to six at halftime.

“We didn’t take the shots that we wanted, we took the shots that they gave us,” said Sanders, whose club was held to a season-low point total. “We needed more intensity and a determination to win. You can’t get in a hole like we did.”

Added UAlbany coach Trina Patterson, “They are a good team that just beat Hartford. We are trying to get there. We had the effort, but they countered everything with offense and rebounding. We were not able to get a lot inside touches and were not as patient.”



Paw Prints: UAlbany saluted the WBCA's "Think Pink" Breast Cancer Awarenes Program at Saturday's game with Vermont ... five surviving Breast Cancer patients were introduced along with the UAlbany starters prior to the game ... UAlbany student-athletes also supported the event, including members of the men's basketball, women's lacrosse and baseball programs ... the UAlbany women's basketball players wore "Think Pink" t-shirts during the pregame warm-up period ...



Vermont 68, UAlbany 48 (2/16/08 at SEFCU Arena)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Official Basketball Box Score
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Official Basketball Box Score
Vermont vs ALBANY
2/16/08 2:00 p.m. at Albany, N.Y. (SEFCU Arena)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Vermont 17-7, AE 8-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
55 Poles, Kelli........ f 7-12 0-0 0-0 4 5 9 3 14 0 1 2 2 30
04 Kotsopoulos, May.... g 3-12 1-5 2-5 1 5 6 2 9 4 4 1 3 36
15 Rosenkrantz, Amy.... g 7-10 1-2 2-2 1 4 5 2 17 2 1 0 1 34
24 Fenton, Sara........ g 0-0 0-0 0-1 2 4 6 4 0 3 2 0 2 21
33 Pilypaitis, Courtnay g 5-17 2-6 5-5 1 13 14 2 17 4 7 2 0 40
13 Young, Tonya........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
25 Janousek, Sy........ 4-7 1-3 0-0 0 5 5 2 9 2 1 0 0 18
32 Cihal, Andrea....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 8
45 Iwobi, Sofia........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 1 4 0 2 0 2 2 0 10
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 27-61 5-16 9-13 13 39 52 17 68 15 19 7 8 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-36 38.9% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 44.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 31.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 6-9 66.7% Game: 69.2% 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: ALBANY 9-15, AE 7-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Mikus, Sherri....... f 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 16
31 Higy, Kristin....... f 2-8 0-4 0-0 2 1 3 2 4 0 3 0 0 19
02 McGee, Britney...... g 3-9 1-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 7 3 3 0 1 29
05 Thrower, Tanika..... g 4-13 0-2 0-2 1 2 3 1 8 1 2 0 2 21
23 Iromuanya, Charity.. g 1-5 0-1 2-2 1 0 1 3 4 0 1 0 2 18
01 Ford, Amira......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 0 2 0 0 0 17
03 Lindsay, Ashley..... 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 5
10 Aiken, Janea........ 5-11 2-4 0-2 1 0 1 0 12 3 3 0 2 24
14 Clements, Kim....... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 6
24 Sanders, Gia........ 1-8 0-2 3-4 3 8 11 4 5 0 2 1 0 33
44 Sterling, Joy....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
55 Peterson, Kirsten... 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 10
TEAM................ 1 2 3 1
Totals.............. 19-66 3-19 7-14 14 24 38 17 48 9 17 1 7 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-33 36.4% 2nd Half: 7-33 21.2% Game: 28.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 15.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 50.0% 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Margaret Lynch-Gadaleta, Jerome Skrine, Keith Miller
Technical fouls: Vermont-None. ALBANY-None.
Attendance: 413
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Vermont....................... 34 34 - 68
ALBANY........................ 28 20 - 48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------