Ex-UM recruit helps Cats beat Bears

loading...

BURLINGTON, Vt. – In November of 2006, Tonya Young signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at the University of Maine.

On Saturday afternoon, the talented 6-foot-2 freshman helped beat the team for which she had originally committed to play.

Young scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds as Vermont placed five players in double figures to register an 82-62 America East women’s basketball victory over UMaine at Patrick Gymnasium.

“It’s exciting,” Young said of playing UMaine. “[I was] just fired up, because obviously it’s a great rivalry anyway, but having originally gone there it was a little bit more than that.”

The Catamounts’ high-powered offense was too much for coach Cindy Blodgett’s Black Bears (5-13, 2-4 AE).

Sophomore guard Courtnay Pilypaitis scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half to give UVM (14-5, 5-1 AE) its fourth straight win.

The Bears couldn’t sufficiently slow down the Catamounts with their 1-2-2 matchup zone as the hosts efficiently worked the ball around for open 3-pointers and successfully attacked inside as well.

“They did move the ball very well. I think maybe that was some of our lack of ball pressure,” said UMaine freshman Emily Rousseau of Biddeford. “They were just swinging it around, back and forth, reversed it a couple times, no problem, and they were able to get easy shots from that.”

UVM also took advantage of its ability to force a fast tempo, scoring 40 points in the paint and turning a handful of UMaine’s 23 turnovers into 20 points.

The Bears’ quest to match the Catamounts’ speed and intensity didn’t translate well to the offensive end.

“On offense we were frantic at times,” Blodgett said. “There’s an adjustment you’re frantic on defense because you’re running, you’re overhelping, you’re getting into passing lanes. “When you’re on offense, all of a sudden it’s cerebral, you’ve got to use your head.”

Sophomore forward Amanda Tewksbury led a balanced UMaine offense with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Colleen Kilmurray (5 rebounds) and Brittany Boser also scored 12 points each, while Rousseau contributed 11 points, a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

The Catamounts limited Tanna Ross of Newburgh to six points, on 2-for-12 shooting, and five rebounds.

“We did expend our best (defensive) players on Ross the entire day. We focused on her a lot,” said UVM coach Sharon Dawley.

May Kotsopoulos contributed 15 points and four steals to the UVM cause, while Amy Rosenkrantz posted 13 points and Kelli Poles 10 points and nine rebounds. Sara Fenton handed out seven assists.

Young’s performance added the proverbial insult to injury.

The versatile forward chose not to honor her NLI commitment after Ann McInerney relinquished the UMaine coaching job last spring. Athletic director Blake James granted Young a release from her NLI, putting her back on the open recruiting market.

Blodgett said she would rather not have a player who really doesn’t want to be at UMaine.

Two familiar problems helped keep the Bears from making a game of it. They fell behind early (7-0) and struggled with turnovers.

“It’s tough when you go (behind) 7-0 in the beginning. We need to fix that,” Tewksbury said. “If we want to win games, we have to come out strong right in the beginning. As far as turnovers go, it’s been a story for us for most of our games. Whenever we limit the turnovers we usually get a win or we play a lot better.”

Despite the slow start, UMaine battled within 16-13 on a low-post basket by Boser with 11:31 left in the first half.

Vermont answered with a 16-2 spurt covering 4:45 that put the hosts in command.

pwarner@bangordailynews.net

990-8240

CATAMOUNTS 82, BLACK BEARS 62

Maine (5-13) Vermont (14-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Younan 1 1 0 0 2 Kotsopuls 4 16 6 8 15

Ross 2 12 0 0 6 Rosenkrtz 6 12 13

Rousseau 3 10 4 4 11 Cihal 3 4 6

Tewksbury 4 11 4 4 12 Pilypaitis 9 19 0 0 22

Kilmurray 3 9 4 6 12 Sheftic 2 2 5

Baker 0 0 0 0 0 Young 3 6 10

Boser 6 8 0 0 12 Fenton 0 0 0

Mosher 3 4 1 5 7 Janousek 0 1

Iwobi 0 0 0 0

Poles 4 5 2 10

Totals 22 55 13 19 62 Totals 31 67 13 19 82

Maine 29 62

Vermont 42 82

3-pt. goals – Maine (5-11): Ross 2-5, Rousseau 1-3, Kilmurray 2-3; Vermont (7-22): Kotsopoulos 1-6, Rosenkrantz 1-2, Pilypaitis 4-8, Young 1-4, Janousek 0-2

Attendance: 1,164