Women’s basketball upsets Wisconsin, falls short against Notre Dame

Historic season comes to an end

Published: Monday, March 29, 2010

Updated: Monday, March 29, 2010 16:03

David Dyke

Freshman Kendra Seto and senior Sofia Iwobi block opposing players from Hartford. The team had a historic season with their first NCAA tournament win in school history.

The UVM women's basketball team won its first ever game in the NCAA tournament on March 24 in South Bend, Ind.

The team surprised the No. 7 seed in the Kansas City bracket and added them to the list of big name schools the team has beaten this year, along with NC State, Boston College and Providence.

Coach Sharon Dawley notched her 128th career win at the school, moving her into first place as the school's all-time leader in wins.

In Sunday's game, the Catamounts jumped out to a 14-point lead, 27-13, 15 minutes into the first half. The Badgers showed resilience as they were able to chip away at the lead to cut it to just eight at the half.

The Catamounts then proceeded to come out of the locker room ice cold. They failed to connect on their first 10 shots from the field, allowing Wisconsin to take a four-point lead with 12:38 remaining.

Senior May Kotsopoulos drained a three-pointer with 10:35 to go, bringing the game into a tie at 39 points apiece.

Senior Courtnay Pilypaitis took over the game from there, scoring six straight points for UVM, giving the Cats a five-point lead at 46-41, with 7:42 remaining.

"It was huge and obviously a historic day for us," Dawley said. "I was just proud of the execution."

"We just try to enjoy it. We just try to have fun, enjoy it and go from there," Pilypaitis said.
Vermont was able to start strong in their game against the Irish with a 20-10 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Notre Dame answered the Catamounts' call with a 27-7 run that flipped the advantage to a 10-point lead for the Irish.

The Catamounts trailed by eight at the 14:48 mark of the second half, but the Irish turned up the heat by going on a 19-4 run and never looking back. The Irish went on to win the game 84-66.

The game marked the end of four very fine careers for the Vermont seniors Pilypaitis, Kotsopoulos, Alissa Sheftic and Sofia Iwobi.

The team won 27 games, the third-most in school history. They won the America East Championship and capped it all off with their first tournament win in school history.