This game is Monday at 5:00 and you can watch on ESPN+. An interesting feature of this game is that sisters Delaney ( 5th year Senior for Vermont) and Katey Richason ( 3rd year Junior for Miami) will probably be starting and maybe guarding each other. Vermont had a tremendous season last year, going 25-7 ( 14-2) and winning the American East title and playing in the NCAA tournament ( lost to UConn). Despite that, we beat them last year in Oxford led by big games from Maddie Cluse and Ivy Wolf. Probably the best team we beat all year.
Besides Delany, other stars for the Catamounts include Emma Utterbeck ( 14ppg) and Anna Olson (11ppg) who were both named preseason first team all conference.
Miami, of course, is a totally revamped program since last season. We have 5 girls remaining in the program, Katey (at 3.9ppg) being the only one who was in the rotation all year. We do have 4 transfer portal girls and 4 true freshmen. We have discussed in detail the new players and coaches in other threads. If you haven’t read up on them before, go back and check them out.
The coaches have miraculously put together a pretty solid team and the girls have worked really hard to get to know each other and get tight as a team. They are going to be a work in progress, but I am just as encouraged by this staff as I was when Megan Duffy and her staff took over. One difference, though, is that Coach Duffy took over a roster which had every single player returning and featured future MAC all conference players Lauren Dickerson and Savannah Kluesner in the sophomore class.
Coach Glenn Box basically started out with nothing and got hired late after most quality players were already committed and signed elsewhere. He did a remarkable job of putting together a very good staff and going all over the country and several other countries to find some MAC level talent, all in a very short period of time.
I suggest following this team from the beginning and watch as the program grows and develops. The girls expect to win and so do the coaches. Enjoy the ride.
4-4 at the 5 and under TO. We have 2 layups. Both teams have been offensively challenged so far. Something we don’t want to hear, so far we have 4 shots and 4 turnovers.
13-12 Vermont at the end of 1. Our starters were the Scott twins and Richason at forwards, Brown and Huhn at guards. We picked up when Tretter and Jurio came off the bench. Tretter has 5 points. All our points are ft’s and layups.
I’ve been watching for the past media timeout. Just from what I’ve seen (all of a few minutes, so grain of salt), this team looks a lot better than last year. They look a step slow on offense and defense like any team with a new system early in the season, but they very clearly have a purpose/goal.
We need better play from our PG and offensive rebounding is nonexistent. And we don’t seem to be the most gifted shooting team. Defense I thought was good to excellent. Jadyn Scott with 2 threes. Down one at the half. And this is a much better coached
team than last year.
We got down 7 and went to a triangle and two (on their guards and it slowed them down) and we caught up. 22-20 Vermont at the 5 and under TO. Tretter with 6, Jaden Scott with 5. We had a long 10-0 run, but Vermont got the last two buckets to go up 26-25 at the half.
We are running our offense at a very slow pace. All 4 of our forwards look good, but Jurjo is the only guard who is holding her own. Their guards are dominating ours. Of note, our freshman guard from British Columbia, who is our starting shooting guard, has not played and her replacements do not look up to the job so far.
Rebounds are 11-9 Vermont, we have 7 to’s, Vermont has 8. Richason and Jurjo both have 2 fouls.
I like what we may have in Tretter. Playing well inside with a real nice free throw stroke. I think her defense has also looked good. Jurjo looks like she has potential but looks nervous. Shooting form looks pretty good but a few bad misfires.
We are down 8 points at the 5 and under to. We tried starting all 4 of our forwards with Brown at point but it did not work. Richason picked up her 3rd foul. I think Tretter had both of our baskets.37-29 Vermont.
41-36 Vermont at the end of 3. Richason picked up her 4th foul with 2 seconds to go in the period. I think we have played better with Brown on the bench and Jurjo and Lard at guards.