BURLINGTON – With one third-quarter sequence Thursday night, the Vermont women’s basketball team all but clinched a trip to the America East tournament semifinals.
As the second-seeded Catamounts clung to a six-point lead over seventh-seeded UMBC, UVM’s Bella Vito inbounded the ball from the corner with four seconds left on the shot clock and 1:38 to play in the third quarter. Vito lobbed the ball up to Nikola Priede, and the junior center dribbled with the ball towards the basket and got Alaina Williams to pick up her second foul. As Priede was falling backwards, she let the ball go and it fell through the hoop.
Priede let out a scream, getting her teammates and the crowd into the game. Priede nailed the free throw, giving Vermont a nine-point lead that would be 12 at the end of the third quarter. Priede’s game-high 19-points helped Vermont surge to a 70-39 victory over the Retrievers in front of 744 fans at Patrick Gym.
With the win, Vermont (19-12, 14-3) advances to the America East tournament semifinals for the fourth consecutive season. The Catamounts will host No. 3 Bryant in the semifinals on Monday at 6 p.m. from Patrick Gym. UMBC finished its season at 14-15 (7-10 AE).
That Priede and-one with 1:35 left in the third quarter was the start of a 23-5 run spanning the next six-and-a-half minutes.
“I love basketball and when I get hyped I see my teammates get hyped and it just goes on and on,” Priede said.
These teams had also closed out the regular season against each other in Patrick Gym on Saturday, a matchup Vermont won 79-59 while setting a school record in field goal percentage. Baskets were not as easy to come by early in this rematch just five days later.
Vermont started out slow and trailed 13-11 after the first quarter while making 5-of-15 field goal attempts. On the other side, the Retrievers made 3-of-7 shots from beyond the arc in the opening 10 minutes. Vermont only allowed two more threes the rest of the way.
“I would say it was nerves as well,” Vito said. “It’s win or go home now and that puts a little bit more pressure on it.”
The Retrievers bottled up Priede and senior forward Anna Olson who did not have a lot of success in the paint early. Keira Hanson provided a much needed spark off the bench. Hanson was feeling herself all game from beyond the arc knocking down 5-of-6 long range shots finishing with 17 points. The junior guard even hit a buzzer-beating triple right before halftime to give Vermont a five-point lead.
Hanson’s hot hand helped open up the rest of the offense. Hanson joined Vito (18 points) and Priede in double figures. Vito also recorded a double-double after grabbing 12 rebounds.
The Catamounts played nearly flawlessly in the second half shooting 53.3% from the field and did not turn the ball over. They also took advantage of the Retrievers’ nine second-half turnovers, cashing those into 14 points. Vermont also clamped down on defense. After the first quarter, Vermont held UMBC to just a maximum of 10 points per quarter.
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“I just thought we finally started playing with composure and aggressiveness,” coach Alisa Kresge said.
Retrievers head coach Candice Hill shared some great praise about this Vermont women’s basketball team.
“That is a hard team to play,” Hill said. “Probably the hardest team in our conference to play. Any mistake they capitalize on it because they can score inside and score outside.”
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 earns fourth straight trip to AE semifinals
