Guards spark Bears Guerrette, Heon tame Catamounts

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BURLINGTON, Vt. – As the Vermont Catamounts focused their attention on slowing Heather Ernest and the inside attack of the University of Maine on Sunday, a solitary figure lurked on the perimeter, largely unrespected … and entirely unguarded.

Tracy Guerrette made Vermont pay for the oversight.

Man, did she make them pay.

Guerrette tied a UMaine record for 3-point goals in a game by making 6-of-8 tries and scored a career-high 22 points as Maine posted a 73-61 win in front of a stunned Patrick Gymnasium throng of 1,672.

“To tell you the truth, in the first half, I just felt it,” Guerrette said. “It was weird. I’ve never felt that way before. I was just in the zone, and everything I shot, I had confidence that it was going in.”

It did.

Guerrette made all four 3-point tries in the half and got a lot of moral support from her teammates during her early explosion.

Maine coach Sharon Versyp said that every time Vermont called timeout to try to slow down what would become a 17-7 run, players repeated one theme.

“Heather Ernest said, ‘Give … Tracy … The … Ball,”‘ Versyp recounted.

The coaching staff vigorously agreed.

Guerrette was a non-scholarship walk-on as a freshman and has played herself into a starting role as a junior captain. She hit four bombs as Maine ran out to a 34-18 lead after just 14 minutes of action and nailed a couple more key shots late in the game to hold Vermont at bay.

Her six 3-pointers ties the marks of Cindy Blodgett and Kristen McCormick.

The loss was just the second on its home floor this year for Vermont, and the third in two years. The Catamounts drop to 11-9, 7-4 in America East play. Maine improves to 9-12, 6-6.

Ernest, who entered the game with an eight-game streak of double-figure performances in both points and rebounds, scored 12 but grabbed nine rebounds in a foul-plagued 31-minute effort.

Melissa Heon pitched in with 13 points, Kizzy Lopez netted 10 and Ellen Geraghty scored eight.

Low-post defense was a bright spot for the Catamounts, Vermont coach Keith Ciepliciki said. But it didn’t come without a price.

“We did a decent job taking away some inside stuff and they banged the 3’s,” he said. “You’ve just gotta live with certain things. Some times you give up things and today was a day that we had to pay for giving those up.”

Freshman guard Heon joined in on the perimeter fun, netting 3 of 5 3-point attempts as the Bears made 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) in the game. She also handed out nine assists, all in the first half. Many were by-products of Guerrette’s sizzling start.

Heon said she began looking for ways to get Guerrette the ball.

“You know the plays, you know where the shots are on the plays, and you just run plays where you’re gonna get her the ball,” Heon said. “… Half of my assists, if you go back and watch the video, were for her.”

In addition to her gaudy assist total, Heon contributed on the defensive end, holding Vermont’s top scorer Morgan Hall to just three attempts (and no points) after a 15-point first-half effort. Aaron Yantzi led the Catamounts with 21 points.

“Melissa Heon did a fabulous job,” Versyp said. “I just told her, don’t let her touch the ball, and when she does, take away her right hand.”

That plan worked perfectly, as two of the three attempts Hall did get were desperation heaves. In addition, the Bears made life miserable for the league’s top 3-point shooter, Libby Smith.

Smith, who torched the Bears for 25 points during an 84-66 win in Orono on Jan. 5, made 1 of 7 field goal attempts and scored four points.

The Bears led by 12 at the half, stretched that to 19 after 2:15 of the second half, then grittily held off every run Vermont threw at them.

First (of course) it was Guerrette’s turn to hurt the Cats. After Vermont had reeled off an 11-2 spurt to get back within 10 points midway through the second half, the 5-foot-9 sniper calmly beat the shot clock with a 22-footer from the top of the key.

That shot turned the momentum and helped the Bears turn the tide.

And after the Catamounts regrouped and mounted another challenge, Heon and Guerrette conspired to put the game away.

First, the duo nailed back-to-back shots just before the shot clock ran out as the Bears were trying to milk time off the game clock.

The second shot, a fading 15-footer by Guerrette, made it 66-51 at the 3:30 mark.

Then, after Vermont scored six straight to make things interesting – and get within nine points for the first time in the second half – Guerrette beat the shot clock buzzer again on a bomb from the right corner. When that dagger dropped through, Maine led 69-57 and only 1:25 remained.

Black Bears 73, Catamounts 61

Maine (9-12) Vermont (11-9)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Heon 5 8 0 0 13 LaRocque 3 10 8

Ernest 4 7 4 4 12 Cressman 2 11 0 0 5

Guerrette 7 12 2 2 22 Smith 1 7 4

Lopez 4 10 1 2 10 Yantzi 8 12 21

James 2 3 2 2 6 Hall 6 15 15

Veilleux 1 5 0 0 2 Brownlee 2 8

Geraghty 3 10 0 0 8

Totals 26 55 9 10 73 Totals 22 59 13 16 61

Maine 43 73

Vermont 31 61

3-pt. goals: Maine (12-17): Heon 3-5, Ernest 0-1, Guerrette 6-8, Lopez 1-1, Geraghty 2-2; Vermont (4-16): LaRocque 0-2, Cressman 1-5, Smith 1-3, Yantzi 0-1, Hall 2-5

Attendance: 1,672