Complete Game Notes (pdf)
New Hampshire Athletic
America East web site

New Hampshire (7-9, 2-3) at Vermont (10-5, 2-3)
January 29, 2003 * Burlington, Vermont * Patrick Gym * 7:00pm
Radio: WJOY (1230-AM) * Internet Broadcast: SportsJuice.com

SETTING THE SCENE: Vermont returns home after a two-game road swing to host the New Hampshire Wildcats tonight. The Catamounts dropped both road games, falling 64-38 at Maine and 61-60 at Hartford. UVM, which lost only two conference games all of last season, stands at 2-3 in the league and owns a 10-5 overall record. New Hampshire begins a six game road swing beginning with tonight's game at Vermont. UNH owns a 7-9 record overall and stands at 2-3 in America East. The Wildcats are coming off a 67-59 loss at home to Binghamton on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT: Hartford 61, Vermont 60 -- Despite shooting 49% from the field Vermont dropped a 61-60 decision at Hartford on Saturday. Senior Morgan Hall scored a game-high 23 points to lead Vermont. However, Hartford drained a school record 13 three-pointers and Angie Pezzetta made two free throws with seven seconds left for the final margin and lift Hartford past Vermont.

MAC IS BACK: Sophomore Katie McNamara, an America East All-Rookie selection a year ago, has reached double-figures in all five league games this season. McNamara struggled through the non-conference portion of UVM's schedule, but has bounced back and is averaging 15.8 points and 3.8 rebounds versus America East opponents.

WHO'S NEXT: Vermont hosts Binghamton on Saturday, February 1 at 1:00pm. The game can be heard on WVMT-620 AM and on the Internet at SportsJuice.com.

UVM TO RETIRE #30: Former women's basketball standout Sheri Turnbull (1990-94) will have her #30 retired during a pre-game ceremony prior to the Binghamton/Vermont game on Saturday. Turnbull, a native of Windsor, Ontario, led the Catamounts to three NCAA Tournament appearances, three America East Tournament Championships and two America East Regular Season Titles. She graduated as the all-time leader in scoring (currently second) and rebounding.

TRAINING ROOM REPORT: Junior Aaron Yantzi will sit out tonight's game with a sore lower back. Freshman Tricia Freeman sprained her thumb in practice last week and missed the Hartford game and will miss tonight's contest.

SPINKA MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE: Sophomore Tiffany Spinka will be available for action for the first time this season. She has been sidelined with a two bulging disks since pre-season. Last year, Spinka saw action in 31 games, averaging 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds.

FOR STARTERS: Head coach Keith Cieplicki used the same starting five for UVM's first 11 games. However, in the first five America East games he has used five different line-ups.

TOTAL OFFENSE: Senior Morgan Hall is responsible for 44% of Vermont's total offense this season. She's led Vermont in scoring eight times this season and has been the team's assist leader eight times. Total offense is calculated by taking the individuals total field goals, adding the individuals assists and dividing that number by the team's total field goals.

SWEET 70: Vermont is 17-2 when it scores 70 points or more since last season. UVM posted a 13-0 unbeaten mark last season when it reached the 70 point plateau. Both losses when scoring 70 points or more have happened this season.

MAKING THE GRADE: The UVM women's basketball team posted an overall team grade point average of 3.29 in the first semester. Seven of the 11 players registered over a 3.5 GPA. The basketball team ranked fourth among UVM's 22 varsity teams in team GPA for the semester.

HALL'S HISTORY: Senior Morgan Hall made history in UVM's victory over Boston University on January 12. Hall became the first UVM women's basketball player to pour in 30 points in back-to-back games. She scored a game-high 33 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out seven assists at Northeastern in the conference opener. She followed that with a career-high 38 points in the victory over Boston University. Hall was just two points shy of tying the UVM single-game record of 40 points, set by Sheri Turnbull '94 in 1993. Only Sheri Turnbull and Joann McKay have scored more points in a game than Hall at Vermont. The BU game was the first time a UVM player had scored 38 points or more in a game since Sheri Turnbull netted 28 versus St. Michael's in 1991.

DOUBLE DIGIT DIVA: Junior forward Aaron Yantzi reached double figures in the scoring column 25 times last season, including the final 18 consecutive games. Yantzi reached double digits just seven times as a freshman. She has netted double figures in UVM's first 11 games, running her streak to 29 straight games. Her streak was snapped with a season-low two points versus Boston University.

NEWCOMERS: The Catamounts add three newcomers to the team this season. The trio of freshmen include Chrissy Battram, Tricia Freeman. Battram is a 5-8 guard from Parkhill, Ontario and North Middlesex District High School, where she averaged 27.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 steals per game. She was a two-time all-conference selection and led North Middlesex to the Western Ontario Championship four straight years. Freeman, a 5-11 forward from Scarborough, Maine is reunited with AAU teammate Lani Boardman. Freeman averaged 12.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists at McAuley High School last season. She also led McAuley to a record of 43-2 record over her junior and senior seasons, including an unbeaten 20-0 mark in her final year.

OH CANADA!: The University of Vermont women's basketball program has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success recruiting players from north of the border. Burlington, Vermont is located just 90 minutes away from Montreal, Quebec. The 2002-2003 roster boasts five Canadians: Chrissy Battram (Parkhill, Ontario); Ashleigh Cuncic (Carlisle, Ontario); Dawn Cressman (Guelph, Ontario); Danielle Sabourin (Sarnia, Ontario); Aaron Yantzi (Waterloo, Ontario). Overall, there have been 12 Canadians in the Vermont program. Five of UVM's 1,000-point scorers are from Canada, including the top three (Karalyn Church, Sheri Turnbull, Joann McKay).

SCOUTING NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Wildcats dropped a 67-59 loss to Binghamton at home on Saturday. New Hampshire was picked to finish fourth in the league in the preseason poll and is currently tied with Vermont for fifth place with a 2-3 conference mark. UNH is led by junior Maren Matthias. She is averaging a team-leading 15.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest. She has recorded four double-doubles in five America East games. Sophomore Geneva Livingston has led the Wildcats in scoring in each of the past two games, netting a team-high 20 points in the loss to the Bearcats. Livingston is averaging 10.7 points and 5.1 rebounds on the year. Senior Aubrey Daned is just 14 points shy of the 1,000 career point mark. For the season she is chipping in 10.1 points and grabbing 7.3 rebounds. As a team New Hampshire is averaging 60 points per game, shooting 40% from the field, 37% from beyond the arc and 58% from the free throw line.

SERIES STUFF: Tonight is the 49th meeting between the two schools. New Hampshire owns a slight 25-23 lead in the all-time series. Vermont owns a 17-10 advantage over UNH in games played at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts are 4-1 over the Wildcats in the last five meetings, the only loss coming at New Hampshire last season, 73-55, UVM was playing without Morgan Hall. In the last meeting at Patrick Gym, UVM came away with a 78-75 victory.

LAST SEASON: In Durham, New Hampshire, playing without Morgan Hall, UNH jumped out to a 10-2 lead and took a 41-26 lead at the break. Maren Matthias scored a team-high 19 points and Aubrey Danen (15 pts) and Heidi Plencner (14 pts) also reached double-figures. Lani Boardman, playing in front of several hundred fans from nearby York, Maine, led the Catamounts with 14 points and five rebounds. At Patrick Gym, four UVM players and four UNH players reached double-figures, led by Morgan Hall's 16 points, as Vermont pulled out a 78-75 victory. Geneva Livingston led the Wildcats with 15 points.

SABOURIN STARTS: Sophomore guard Danielle Sabourin got her first career start in UVM's win over Boston University on Jan. 12. She has remained in the starting five since.

CUNCIC JOINS THE CATAMOUNTS: Ashleigh Cuncic (pronounced CUE-nick) has joined the team and will be eligible to play in the second semester of the 2003-2004 season. Cuncic, a native of Carlisle, Ontario, transferred to Vermont from Xavier. The 5-10 guard was a member of the Musketeers during the 2001-2002 season. She was an Atlantic-10 Preseason All-Rookie team selection and finished the season averaging 2.2 points in 14.4 minutes per game in 26 games. Xavier posted a record of 12-19 overall and went 5-11 in the Atlantic-10 last season. Prior to her collegiate career, Cuncic was a four year player at St. Mary's High School. She was named the St. Mary's Athlete of the Year in 2001 and averaged 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. The Crusaders won the Ontario Provincial Championship in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and posted a record of 187-6 during her five-year career. Cuncic was named the St. Mary's Basketball MVP in 1998 and 2000 and was a member of the Hamilton Transway Club Team that won the Provincial Championship in 1998, 1999 and 2001. Cuncic also played soccer and volleyball at St. Mary's. Cuncic will have two and a half years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the second semester of the 2002-2003 season and the first semester of next season (2003-2004).

ZEKITE TO RED SHIRT: Freshman Ilze Zekite, Vermont's first-ever European player hails from Riga, Latvia. The 6-3 forward will red shirt the 2002-2003 season. Zekite has been a member of the Latvian National Team for the past four years and was a member of the squad that finished fourth at the European Championships this past summer.

CANADIAN CANNON: Senior Dawn Cressman (126) is just two three-pointers away from moving into second place among UVM's all-time three point leaders.

SALUTE TO THE SENIORS: UVM's Morgan Hall and Dawn Cressman are the first senior tandem to score 1,000 points each since Sharon Bay and current assistant coach Jen Niebling both reached the milestone and graduated in 1994. Hall and Cressman are just the second set of classmates to graduate as members of the 1,000-point/500-rebound club, joined again by Bay and Niebling. Together, Hall and Cressman have combined for 77 wins in their career (77-31).

2002-2003 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS: PRESEASON HONORS: UVM was recognized by two different media outlets as one of the top teams in the nation. Vermont earned a #60 ranking in the Basketball News Women's Top 64 and was rated 48th among the nations top 50 teams according to the Preseason Top 50 WOMENSCOLLEGEHOOPS.COM Poll. LAROCQUE RETURNS IN STYLE: Junior guard Theresa LaRocque returned to the court for the first time since March 10, 2002 with a start in UVM's season-opening 71-68 victory over Yale in the first round of Vermont's Banknorth Classic. LaRocque sat out last season as a red shirt with an ACL injury. On her 21st birthday, LaRocque calmly sank two free throws with 13 seconds left to lift UVM to the victory. She finished the game with eight points and four assists. MO = MVP: Senior Morgan Hall has been named MVP of both regular season tournaments the Catamounts played in this season. Hall earned MVP honors in Vermont's own Banknorth Classic. She averaged 19 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Her key steal in the final seconds of Vermont's win over Yale helped put the Catamounts in the championship game. Hall also earned MVP honors at the Brown Classic. She netted a game-high 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and collected six steals to lead Vermont past Brown in the championship game. TOURNEY JINX OVER!: With the win over Brown in the Brown Classic Championship Game, Vermont won its first regular season tournament championship, other than its own Banknorth Classic, in 10 years. Ironically, Vermont's last regular season tournament wins came during the 1992-93 season with the Catamounts winning the Brown Classic and Richmond Tournament. CATAMOUNTS IN THE POLLS: Vermont was ranked as high at #43 in the WOMENSCOLLEGEHOOPS.COM Regular Season Poll and also received two votes in the December 16th USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 Poll. START ME UP: Vermont's 7-1 start to the 2002-2003 season was the second best under head coach Keith Cieplicki. UVM went 8-1 to start the 1999-2000 season. A-GAME: Junior Aaron Yantzi became the first Catamounts since all-time leading scorer Karalyn Church to net 30 points in a contest. Yantzi poured in a career-high 31 points in Vermont's 65-43 victory over Central Connecticut. She made her first 11 shots from the field and finished 11-for-13 from the floor and shot 9-for-10 from the foul line. Yantzi also scored 29 points in a loss to Syracuse. PICK POCKETS: Vermont set a new single-game school record for most steals with 25 in a 72-47 victory over Brown in the championship game of the Brown Classic. Senior Morgan Hall (6) and sophomore Lani Boardman (5) combined for 11 steals. HOME SWEET HOME: Vermont earned its 190th victory at Patrick Gym with a 74-64 win over St. Bonaventure on January 4. Morgan Hall netted a game-high 24 points to lead the Catamounts. MO EXPLODES: Morgan Hall exploded for a career-high 33 points in Vermont's America East opener. The 6-0 guard 13-for-21 from the floor, 3-for-5 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the line. She also posted her second double-double of the year with 11 rebounds and narrowly missed UVM's first-ever triple-double with seven assists. Hall became just the fourth player in Vermont history to score 33 points in a game. MO-MENTUM: Morgan Hall became the first UVM women's basketball player to score 30 points in back-to-back games in UVM's victory over Boston University on Jan. 12. Hall poured in a career-high 38 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out four assists. SABOURIN STARTS: Sophomore Danielle Sabourin earned her first career starts in UVM's victories over Boston University and Albany. CRESSMAN COLLECTS 1K: Senior Dawn Cressman reached the 1,000 career point mark with 17 points in UVM's victory over Albany on January 15. Cressman is the 13th Catamount and sixth Canadian to reach the milestone. She is also the ninth member of UVM's 1,000-point/500-rebound club. She grabbed her 500th career carom with a career-high 12 boards in UVM's season opening victory over Yale.