Vermont women's basketball moves into tie for first place in America East
The University of Vermont women’s basketball team sits atop the America East conference standings.
At least for now.
With a 67-54 win against Binghamton on Wednesday night, the Catamounts (21-6, 13-2) have moved into a tie for first in the conference with Albany (19-10, 13-2)
UVM extended its winning streak to 13 games with a second quarter spurt that saw the Cats end the half on a 9-2 run to take a 14-point lead. The triumph was Vermont’s third double-digit win in the last four games.
The Catamounts were paced by Emma Utterback’s 13 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.The senior star shot 5 of 11 from the field over 36 minutes. Catherine Gilwee (12 points, 5 assists), Anna Olson (11 points) and Paula Gonzalez (10 points) all scored in double figures for a balanced Catamount offense.
Gonzalez was a perfect 3 of 3 as UVM shot 54.5% from the field and nailed 8 of 13 from beyond the arc. Vermont extended its largest lead of the game (49-31) with 3:20 left in the third quarter on Utterback’s driving layup.
Denai Bowman led Binghamton (13-15) with 16 points in 36 minutes.
If Albany and Vermont were to win their regular-season finales on Saturday, they would be tied in the standings. The two split the head-to-head competition, meaning that the tie would then be broken by winning percentage in conference games vs. the other conference opponents in descending rank order.
Maine (10-5) is currently the No. 3 seed and Vermont swept the Black Bears. While Albany only beat the Black Bears at home.
A Vermont win against Bryant on Saturday at Patrick Gym and a Maine win vs. Binghamton would make the Catamounts the regular-season champions and the top seed for the conference tournament for the first time in 21 years.
Contact Jacob Rousseau at JRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter: @ByJacobRousseau
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont women's basketball moves into tie for first in America East
