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Vermont 74, Delaware 64
America East Quarterfinals

March 4, 1999

Blue Hen Women Cagers Fall Short in AE Tournament Battle

BURLINGTON, VT -- The University of Delaware women's basketball team's 1998-99 season came to an end Thursday night as Karalyn Church scored 25 points to lead host and No. 4 seed University of Vermont to a 74-64 win over the No. 5 seed Blue Hens in the America East quarterfinals Thursday night at Patrick Gymnasium.

The Blue Hens finished the season with a record of 16-11, the team's best mark since the 1992-93 season. Vermont (17-11) will now face No. 1 seed Maine in the semifinals Friday. No. 2 seed Northeastern meets No. 6 seed Drexel in the second semifinal.

The Catamounts, who also got 20 points from Christie Lauzon, jumped out to a 34-27 halftime lead and stayed in control the entire second half. The Hens cut the lead to three at 45-42 on a jumper by Lindsay Davis with 12:03 left to play, but Vermont answered with consecutive layups by Jen MacAulay and Church to go back up by nine points. The Hens never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

The Hens put four scorers in double figures as Cindy Johnson scored 12 points, Danielle Leyfert had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds, Christina Rible had 11 points, and Tracy Whitling came off the bench to add 11 points and eight rebounds. Delaware shot just 38 percent from the field (24 of 63) for the game.

Delaware, which got just eight minutes of play from starting forward Renee Baker (ankle), remained winless in 12 games at Patrick Gymnasium while the Catamounts improved to 14-0 all-time in America East tournament games at Patrick. Vermont is now 8-1 all-time in quarterfinal action, including four straight wins.

"I thought we did some good things," said third-year Delaware head coach Tina Martin. "Vermont got hot midway through the second half and that helped them. I'm proud of the way we played and reacted going against some odds like a hostile crowd. We came up short in the end, but our kids played their hearts out.

DELAWARE (16-11) - Leyfert, 4-12 4-6 12, Baker, 2-5 0-0 5, Seifert, 2-4 0-0 4, Dellegrotti, 1-5 3-4 6, Johnson, 6-15 0-0 12, Whitling, 3-5 5-7 11, Mulligan, 0-2 0-0 0, Rible, 5-11 1-1 11, Davis, 1-4, 1-3 3, Street, 0-0 0-0 0, Totals, 24-63 14-21 64.

VERMONT (17-11) - Lauzon, 4-12 10-12 20, Church, 9-16 7-12 25, Zornow, 3-5 1-1 7, MacAulay, 4-4 0-0 9, Smith, 1-8 0-0 2, Duggan, 3-4 0-0 8, Dodge, 1-3 1-4 3, Coleman, 0-0 0-0 0, Totals, 25-52 19-29 74.

Halftime: Vermont 34, Delaware 27; Three-Point Field goals: D - 2-5 (Baker, 1-1, Dellegrotti, 1-3, Davis, 0-1), V - 5-15 (Duggan, 2-3, Lauzon, 2-8, MacAulay, 1-1, Smith, 0-3); Rebounds: D - 39 (Leyfert, 9), V - 37 (Dodge, 10); Assists: D - 13 (Dellegrotti, 4), V - 18 (MacAulay, 7); Total Fouls: D - 22, V - 19; Attendance: 1,920.

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