Vermont women's basketball uses fourth-quarter spurt for season-opening win vs. Miami (OH)
When Emma Utterback and Delaney Richason returned to Burlington for fifth seasons, the University of Vermont women’s basketball team had expectations for a conference-title repeat.
The Catamounts’ showed their aspirations in the season-opener when a driving Utterback kicked to Bella Vito for a corner trey, then found Anna Olson on the low block and followed with a pull-up chance near the free throw line.
The fourth quarter Utterback-rich spurt put the Catamounts ahead by 10 as Vermont finished with a 60-48 win against Miami (OH) on Monday night at Patrick Gym.
“Not giving them momentum is huge,” Kresge said of the fourth-quarter start. “We talked a lot about coming out of halftime and not giving them that energy but finishing. And starting that fourth quarter off right, I thought that was really big.”
Utterback finished with 20 points and seven assists over 37 minutes, while Olson added 20 points, including 16 in the second half.
The Catamounts, which lost to Miami 79-73 last season, held the RedHawks to just 23 points in the final two frames and forced 13 total turnovers.
“We were nervous, we were sped up and they were forcing some of that,” Kresge said. “But I thought we found a way to be much more poised and comfortable in the second half and shared the ball and got the ball to the right person at the right time.”
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After Vermont’s decisive fourth-quarter run, Miami’s Lakresha Edwards canned a triple from the right wing, but the Catamounts responded as sophomore Andjela Matic, who took over point guard duties this season for an injured Catherine Gilwee, found Utterback on the left block off an in-bounds play for a 49-39 advantage.
The Catamounts followed with Malia Lenz, a freshman, crashing for a weak side rebound on an Utterback missed trey for a put-back score.
“It's super helpful having so many returners because we can just build off of last year and then the newcomers are not all new,” Olson said. “A lot of people who are newcomers last year … saw everything last year so they can fit in.”
The RedHawks, which were picked to finish last in the Mid-American Conference, shot just 40% from the field as Vermont seized its biggest lead of the contest (54-39) on Richason’s feed to Olson deep in the block for a three-point play with 2:46 to play.
Jada Scott led Miami with 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting.
The Catamounts shot 48% from the field and 10-of-11 at the line, while gaining a 32-22 rebounding margin.
“I thought we got tougher,” Kresge said. “(Defensively) I thought we were just not locked into the level that I thought we should be and challenged them at halftime to buy into team defense.”
Vermont travels to Providence on Friday.
Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter@ByJacobRousseau.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: UVM women's basketball seizes season-opening win against Miami (OH)
