Four Danes Score Double Figures as UAlbany WBB Crushes Vermont in 89-48 Road Win
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
Postgame Interview - Coach Abe | Postgame Interview - Sarah Royals | Postgame Interview - Shereesha Richards
BURLINGTON, Vt. – The UAlbany women's basketball completed its first half sweep of the America East with an 89-48 road victory over Vermont, including a 50-point second period, on Thursday night.
“Everybody got an opportunity to play, we did great offensively in sharing and moving the ball,” said UAlbany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. “They played us man [to-man] today, which was shocking because everyone played has played us zone. We got an opportunity to play our man offense and work on our press.”
Up 17 at the break, UAlbany (15-6, 8-0 AE) had three runs of 8-0 or better to outscore Vermont (3-17, 0-8 AE) 50-26 in the second half. UAlbany outrebounded Vermont 35-23 and forced a season-high 21 steals, shooting 54.5% from the field. On the flip side, Vermont shot 34.9% and committed 30 turnovers.
“Instead of faceguarding them, we let them catch it and then began our press,” said Abrahamson-Henderson. “Our press wears people out, and in the second half, everyone is just waiting for us to pull it off.”
Shereesha Richards earned another career night, notching her second 30+ point game in a row. She shot 9-13 from the field and 13-of-14 from the free throw line, finishing with 31 points, eight rebounds, six steals and two blocks. She moved into third all-time in UAlbany WBB history in scoring, standing with 1,425 points in her career.
“It started with our defense, we knew we had to come out and let them shoot threes,” said Richards. “We had to keen on the little things tonight, and our defense started all that.”
Sarah Royals netted 15 points, adding seven assists, six boards and three steals. Zakiya Saunders scored 14 points and made four steals, while Erin Coughlin finished with 11 points.
“We played two good halves of basketball, we wanted to keep them under 50 points,” said Royals. “We knew they were a great three-point shooting team and we stuck to our principles and kept them out of the paint.”
For Vermont, Kayla Burchill scored 11 points off the bench. Kylie Butler and Emilie Cloutier each scored seven.
UAlbany returns home for a battle between the first and second place teams in the America East, hosting Maine at the SEFCU Arena at 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 1st.
UAlbany went into the paint with its backcourt to begin the game, with Royals setting up Saunders for a pair of layups. Following a Butler corner three, Royals countered with a three from the right wing for an early UAlbany 7-3 lead in the first three minutes.
At 7-5, UAlbany kept attacking down low, starting with a Margarita Rosario arc pass in transition to Richards in the paint resulting in a layup and one. With the UAlbany zone holding off Vermont and forcing turnovers, Saunders added a long jumper, followed by an Imani Tate layup and two Richards free throws for a 9-0 run, pushing UAlbany up 16-5 with 13:42 remaining.
Vermont fired away from three, with Burchill connecting twice from beyond the arc. The other way, Royals stopped the run by hitting her second three from the wing. Jordan Eisler got a jumper to make it 21-15 UAlbany, 9:57 left in the 1st.
In a span of two minutes, Richards went on a personal 7-0 run, capped by a transition layup and one, to build UAlbany's lead to 28-15. Following three Vermont points, Coughlin received the inbounds pass and connected for three from Royals. Jessica Féquière got fouled while rebounding on defense on the next play. She hit the front end, and on the missed back end free throw, Richards rebounded and hit the layup to make it 34-18 UAlbany with 3:15 left in the 1st.
UAlbany was held without points for almost three minutes as Vermont got the score to within 12. With 36 seconds left, Sauders kicked out to Coughlin for the wing three, then Richards stole the ball on the wing and went coast-to-coast for the layup, sending UAlbany into the locker room up 39-22.
The sides exchanged points early, with Vermont hitting free throws and UAlbany getting layups from Tiana-Jo Carter and Royals. Richards hit a turnaround jumper with 16:16 left to get UAlbany up 49-30.
After a Cloutier layup and one, Richards drew contact twice and hit three free throws. Royals added one, then Richards and Royals each hit layups for an 8-0 UAlbany run just over two minutes. Butler stopped the run with a layup and one in transition. UAlbany countered, forcing steal and scores from Royals and Saunders. Richards added a layup then a pair of free throws to complete the 8-0 run, make it UAlbany 65, Vermont 36 with 10:49 left to play.
The Great Danes got another small run of 7-0 in a span of 1:30 with Royals, Coughlin and Richards hitting shots in succession as the UAlbany zone defense kept Vermont at bay. After a Vermont basket, a UAlbany 12-0 run, including points from Saunders, Royals, Féquière and Tate, made it 84-40 UAlbany with five minutes left.
Towards the end of the game, birthday girl Bose Aiyalogbe got fouled going towards the basket. She hit a pair of free throws with 37 seconds left, setting the eventual 89-48 final score.
