SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As a reward for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2002, the Wisconsin Badgers earned a No. 7 seed and the program’s first ever matchup with the No. 10 Vermont Catamounts in the first round.
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, a second-half comeback fell short as Vermont played beyond its seeding to upset the Badgers 64-55 at the Purcell Pavilion Sunday afternoon.
Led by a duo of senior guards from Ontario, the Catamounts began the game strong and posted a 33-25 halftime lead. Behind 6-foot-1 Courtnay Pilypaitis and 5-foot-10 May Kotsopoulos, who scored 25 and 14 points, respectively, Vermont shot 40.4 percent from the field. Wisconsin, meanwhile, was led by junior guard Alyssa Karel and junior forward Lin Zastrow who both scored 13.
“It was a war of systems,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said. “I thought [Vermont] did a very nice job in their handoffs and scissor action. We were late at times and needed to bring some help. I thought we did after halftime. We came out in the second half outstanding defensively, rebounded the ball hard and got some good shots. It was a little bit of catch up.”
As the nation’s No. 24 scoring defense, the Badgers knew they would face tough opposition against the Catamounts, who boasted the No. 21 scoring defense this year. Coming out of halftime down eight, Wisconsin responded with a 12-0 run to open the second half and regain a 37-33 lead with 14:40 remaining. Over the next five minutes, the two squads matched possessions until Vermont used a 7-0 run to take a 41-39 lead with 9:05 left on the clock. The Catamounts would end up holding the lead for the remainder of the game.
“We took the lead, but [Vermont] made some good shots down the stretch,” Stone said. “They ended up having a lot of will and … they spread the court when we tried to foul them. It is a smart, veteran club.”
After a Karel 3-pointer brought the Badgers to within two with 6:38 remaining, the Catamounts put together a 6-0 run and led 52-44 with 4:11 to go. Wisconsin eventually came within five again, as a 3-pointer by Teah Gant brought the score to 60-55 with 26 seconds remaining. However, it was a case of too-little-too-late for UW as the Badgers were forced to foul to stop the clock. Vermont hit its free throws down the stretch, and finished the game 19-for-27 from the charity stripe.
All day long, the Badgers struggled with Pilypaitis and Kotsopoulos who both shot at least 50 percent from the field, as Pilypaitis made 8-of-14 and Kotsopoulos 5-of-10.
“I guess the game shows that she is a great player,” Gant said of Pilypaitis. “I don’t know, I think I played well against her but she made some hard shots. I give her all the credit for that.”
On the offensive end, Wisconsin enjoyed a scoring attack that was even more balanced than usual. Six players scored at least five points and the Badgers finished the game shooting 36.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the arc.
But Vermont went to the line 18 more times than UW did, as the Badgers went 6-for-9 on free throws.
“Vermont works hard,” UW forward Anya Covington said. “They work hard; they played good defense on us, but I still think that we could have got other options on offense. We’ve got to keep up with one another, but Vermont was a solid defensive team.”
For Wisconsin, the upset marks the end of a surprising season that saw the Badgers defy the expectations of Big Ten coaches and media who picked them to finish 10th and seventh in the conference, respectively. UW ended the season with a 20-11 overall record and a 10-8 conference record.
“We shared some tears for our seniors because this is their last game, and it’s sad to see Teah Gant and Rae Lin D’Alie go because they left such a huge mark on this team,” Covington said.
