'She was given nothing': Vermont's Catherine Gilwee earns Patrick Gym title in third try

Catherine Gilwee’s high school career was less than desirable.

Her freshman year at Champlain Valley Union High School, the Redhawks lost in the title game to St. Johnsbury. The next season, as the top seed, CVU again fell to the Hilltoppers at University of Vermont's Patrick Gym. Her junior year, though, everything was working.

Gilwee and Makenna Boyd looked prime to return Champlain Valley to glory and were 21-0 entering the Final Four at the UVM. And then the unthinkable happened, COVID-19 slammed the breaks on everything and Gilwee never got another chance at Patrick.

“It was heartbreaking, I knew that was our year,” Gilwee said.

Her senior campaign, like many others, was hampered by the pandemic and after just nine games the season was canned. The realization of Patrick Gym defeats and opportunities robbed settled in for the ultimate competitor.

“I thought there's no way I get out of my four years at CVU without winning one and then I did,” Gilwee said.

But after her junior year concluded and with a relentless work ethic, Gilwee had a new calling, new challenges and hopes for redemption in her home state with the UVM women’s basketball team.

“She was given nothing in a sense and made the most out of nothing, which is incredible,” UVM coach Alisa Kresge said.

Gilwee committed to the Catamounts in April of 2020 and, although championships are never given, the chance to compete at Patrick Gym felt right.

“Coming to UVM I knew there was something special here,” Gilwee said.

The Catamounts’ homegrown star from Shelburne was right. Vermont (25-6) rattled off a 17-game win streak to seize the America East Conference championship in her sophomore year against Albany at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts advanced to the NCAA Tournament and will play Connecticut on Saturday.

“To get that win on Patrick in front of the home crowd, her family. I was so, obviously our seniors we've been through a lot together, but I was really just so thrilled for her,” Kresge said.

Gilwee, CVU get the chip

Earlier this month CVU coach Ute Otley and the Redhawks ended the drought and got their first title in six years. Patrick Gym again was — “covered in red and white” — and Gilwee was there to relish in the moment.

“She gave me a big hug that night down on the floor of the state championship and I said to her, ‘Cat, I can't tell you how much I wish you were out here with us finally getting your chance,’” Otley said.

Gilwee’s opening was still to come.

Two days after CVU won, the top-seeded Cats upended Maryland-Baltimore County in the semifinals. Leaving just the title game separating Gilwee and that always-out-of-reach Patrick Gym championship.

“It ended up being this huge Catherine Gilwee cheering section,” Otley said of a corner in Patrick Gym. “We were all cheering for the Cats all together, but all everybody there felt like they had this connection to her and everybody's just so proud of her.”

March Madness: Coverage of UVM basketball teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament

Gilwee competed as always and over 38 minutes of play none match the final seconds as Albany’s game-winning heave landed well-safe of a March Madness highlight reel.

“Once the shot went up and I knew it wasn't going in and then the buzzer sounded I found (Emma Utterback) and that was the best moment ever,” Gilwee said.

Third time was the charm for both CVU and Gilwee.

“It felt like a kid that skilled, that hard-working, that dedicated to being as good as a basketball player could be, it felt like the ultimate injustice that she never got to raise a trophy in high school in four years,” Otley said.

The time and losses paid in dividends as Gilwee had her moment and in front of 2,502 at Patrick Gym.

“The fact that for four years I was on a team that could have won a state championship and in the last few years we were robbed, it was tough, but that just made winning this year so much better,” Gilwee said.

Last season Gilwee was named America East’s rookie of the year. She played in all 31 games with 23 starts and averaged 5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest. Those numbers have bloomed as Gilwee has assumed a starting role in every game this season.

“There's not a person that has worked harder than her to help this group get back to Patrick and obviously at a different level,” Kresge said.

Vermont’s hometown hero

Gilwee grew up surrounded by great Vermont and CVU hoopers. And although she doesn’t remember much from the 2010 UVM squad that ousted Wisconsin in the first round of the Big Dance, it’s hard not to idolize the players competing at the highest level in your own backyard.

“I think when you love the game so much the people that are older than you that are playing the game you love, those are the people that you look up to the most,” Gilwee said.

The guard, who averages 10.5 ppg, 3.1 apg over 34.5 minutes this season, doesn’t have the overpowering athleticism of Rice Memorial star-turned-UVM-leader Ben Shungu or the slashing ability of her backcourt counterpart Utterback, but where Gilwee lacks she makes up for with countless post-practice shootarounds with Bella Vito and meticulous film review.

“It gives them that hope, like I can do it when you see somebody literally live a similar life and be able to do it with the same resources and the same youth sports or AAU program. I think it says volumes for the excitement around girls basketball in Vermont,” Kresge said.

Said Vito: “She drives a lot of people and when we're in the summer I remember every time I was in the gym, she was also in the gym. If I need someone to shoot with, I go to Cat because I know she is always down to work out extra.”

She’s in the gym so often Otley said she has never had a player like her in 15 years and Utterback joked that Kresge might suspend her if she stays in Patrick any longer.

“When you're not the most athletic person on the floor, it's all about how you can out-smart your opponent and that's exactly what Cat does,” Utterback said. “Granted, it’s not like she has no athletic capabilities, but I think she will always outsmart the (other) person in the room and that is her biggest quality.”

Post games at UVM the support for Gilwee and the Catamounts is palpable.

“I just try to represent UVM and be the best version of myself so that they can look up to me and follow in my footsteps and know that if they work hard enough, they can be where I'm at right now,” Gilwee said.

Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter: @ByJacobRousseau

TV, radio, stream information

Teams: (15) Vermont vs. (2) Connecticut

Site: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut

Date: Saturday, March 18

Tip-off: 3 p.m. eastern (approx.)

TV: ABC

Stream: ESPN3

Radio: WVMT

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: NCAA Tournament: Gilwee, Vermont women's basketball take on UConn