When the final whistle sounded in Reynolds Coliseum it became official: the 2024-25 Vermont women’s basketball season had ended after No. 2 NC State’s 75-55 win over the 15-seeded Catamounts at the NCAA Tournament.
The ESPN broadcast showed Keira Hanson in tears after scoring a career-high 21 points off the bench before the teams went to the handshake line.
The final score does not tell the whole story of the fight the Catamounts brought to NC State, adding another accomplishment to be proud of. Vermont entered halftime trailing NC State 35-33, making a statement to the women’s basketball community that the Catamounts can compete with anyone.
The Wolfpack outscored the Catamounts 23-9 in the final quarter creating the 20-point win. Vermont’s record in the NCAA Tournament drops to 1-8.
“I will say we didn’t go down without swinging, and we made noise, and we were proud to represent Vermont,” Hanson said on what she will tell people about this experience 20 years later.
Among the accomplishments from this year include rebounding from a 5-10 start to earn the 2-seed in the America East tournament, winning the conference tournament and recording its fourth consecutive 20-win season for the first time in program history.
Now the next step is for the Catamounts to build off this performance with the foundation laid by players like Emma Utterback, Delaney Richason, Anna Olson, Catherine Gilwee and Bella Vito.
“I think the culture of the program is at an all-time high right now, and it’s just going to keep building,” Olson said. “And, you know, if we keep building, we’re going to start getting wins out of these type of games.”
In the Catamounts’ last NCAA Tournament appearance before Saturday, No. 2 UConn earned a 43-point victory over Vermont in 2023. Against NC State, Vermont suffered a 20-point loss in a game that felt much closer, showcasing the growth from the team already in just two seasons.
Leading up to the NC State game, the players and coach Alisa Kresge has talked about how playing games at UConn, Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue in the WNIT have helped prepare the Catamounts for other big games.
“Anna Olson knew what to expect in this game because she has done it for three years now against the biggest, strongest posts out there, Catherine Gilwee running the show for us against UConn,” Kresge said. “I think the opportunities this group has created for us and our administration has allowed us to do has helped us come in with a different mentality in this game, even sitting at a 15 seed against a 2 again.”
Now the next step is being able to pull off one of these massive upsets against a Power 5 team.
With the transfer portal opening soon, the grind does not stop for Kresge and her staff to rebuild a roster full of players that play defense and will pair nicely with Gilwee, Hanson, Nikola Priede and Malia Lenz.
“We’re hopefully going to do some things in the nonconference that can help us be maybe higher than a 15-seed if we get that opportunity to come back here,” Kresge said. “But we’ve got work to do in the off-season.”
Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: vermont women’s basketball to build off success of 2024-2025 season
