University of Delaware Women's Basketball: 2000

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America East Championship
Delaware 69, Vermont 64 OT

March 10, 2001

Blue Hens Capture First Ever America East Title; On to NCAA's

Lindsay Davis Scored 7 Points in Overtime

BURLINGTON, VT -- Tournament Most Valuable Player Cindy Johnson scored 18 points and super sub Lindsay Davis came off the bench to add 17 points, including seven in overtime, as the University of Delaware overcame a 15-point second half deficit to capture its first ever America East women's basketball title with a 69-64 victory over host Vermont Saturday at Patrick Gymnasium.

The Blue Hens, who won their fourth straight game and extended their school records for wins in a season to a mark of 26-4, trailed 48-33 with 12:15 left in regulation before storming back to send the game into overtime. Davis, who pulled a team-high nine rebounds, scored the first basket of the extra session to put the Hens up for good and finished with seven points in overtime to ice the win.

Delaware posted its first-ever victory over Vermont in Patrick Gymnasium in 13 tries and won its first conference title since capturing a third straight East Coast Conference crown in 1991. The Hens earned their first ever NCAA Tournament berth with the victory and will await word on where they will be heading for first round play. The NCAA field will be announced Sunday at 5 p.m.

"This is by far the biggest win the program's history," said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. "I am thrilled four our players. We showed tremendous heart and desire to win this championship."

Johnson, the runner-up for league Player of the Year honors, made it count in tournament play as she connected on 9 of 16 shots from the field for 18 points to go with six rebounds and four assists. Christina Rible, who joined Johnson on the All-tournament team, added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Hens.

"This just shows how hard work will get you everything you want," said Johnson. "Our freshman year we were down (6-21) but we just focused on winning a conference championship and we finally accomplished it."

Vermont, the tournament No. 3 seed and defending champion, fell to 19-11 on the season. Four Catamount players scored in double figures as Morgan Hall came off the bench to score 12, including a jumper with 24 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Theresa LaRocque and Aaron Yantzi each added 12 points while Dawn Cressman scored 10 points. Vermont connected on just 9 of 32 shots from the three-point line.

Vermont took a 25-24 lead into intermission and came out storming in the second half, outscoring the Hens 26-9 to go up 48-33 with 12:13 left to play on a Yantzi layup. But Delaware countered by scoring the next seven points to cut the lead to 48-40 and kept chipping away until tying the game at 53-53 with 4:23 left on a Rible layup.

LaRocque put Vermont back up with a three-pointer but Davis completed a three-point play to tie the game again at 56-56 with 2:29 left and Johnson hit a layup to put the Hens up 58-56 with 1:45 left. Hall then sent the game into the extra session with a jumper from the right baseline with 24 seconds left. Johnson's jumper at the buzzer missed to force overtime.

The Hens went right to it in overtime as Davis scored 14 seconds in and Johnson followed with a layup as the Hens took control 62-58. Davis added three free throws and another jumper to ice the victory.

Rible and Johnson were joined on the All-Tournament team by Drexel's Michelle Maslowski and Vermont's Libby Smith and Morgan Hall.

Delaware vs Vermont

OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E T O T A L S Delaware vs Vermont 3/10/01 3 p.m. at Patrick Gymnasium, Burlington, VT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Delaware 26-4 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 33 LEYFERT, Danielle f 2 9 0 0 1 2 4 2 6 1 5 5 1 0 2 39 40 RIBLE, Christina f 6 16 0 0 0 0 2 6 8 1 12 0 0 0 1 41 54 COLE, Christine c 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 1 4 0 0 0 1 21 11 DELLEGROTTI, Megan g 3 9 2 7 0 1 0 3 3 0 8 1 0 0 0 23 22 JOHNSON, Cindy g 9 16 0 0 0 0 1 5 6 2 18 4 4 0 2 38 03 TRAPP, Allison 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 6 04 TIMMINS, Carrie 2 5 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 3 5 0 2 0 0 22 43 DAVIS, Lindsay 4 8 0 1 9 11 6 3 9 1 17 3 0 0 1 25 50 HOWELL, Tracey 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 4 1 0 1 0 1 0 10 TEAM ........................................ 0 1 1 1 TOTALS 28 69 2 9 11 17 16 28 44 10 69 14 10 1 7 225 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 .000 2nd Half: 13-33 .394 OT 4-6 .667 Game: .406 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1- 4 .250 2nd Half: 1- 5 .200 OT 0-0 .000 Game: .222 F Throw % 1st Half: 4- 4 1.000 2nd Half: 1- 2 .500 OT 3-6 .500 Game: .647 Deadball: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Vermont 19-11 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS No. N A M E FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 11 SMITH, Libby f 2 16 2 9 0 0 2 8 10 1 6 5 1 1 2 35 14 YANTZI, Aaron f 5 8 0 0 2 2 3 1 4 1 12 1 2 0 0 27 34 BROWNLEE, Morgan c 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 5 1 2 0 2 0 0 11 03 LAROCQUE, Theresa g 4 8 1 3 3 4 2 2 4 1 12 1 3 0 0 41 10 CRESSMAN, Dawn g 3 9 2 6 2 2 1 4 5 2 10 3 4 0 0 30 05 MACAULAY, Jen 2 4 2 3 0 0 1 1 2 0 6 2 2 0 1 10 21 BRYAN, Rachel 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 11 22 MULLIGAN, Amy 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 5 8 4 2 1 1 1 0 28 23 BURROUGHS, Heather 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 33 HALL, Morgan 5 16 2 10 0 0 0 2 2 4 12 2 1 0 0 30 TEAM ........................................ 1 4 5 TOTALS 24 69 9 32 7 8 17 30 47 17 64 17 16 2 3 225 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-30 .300 2nd Half: 13-29 .448 OT 2-10 .200 Game: .348 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 .231 2nd Half: 6-15 .400 OT 0-4 .000 Game: .281 F Throw % 1st Half: 4- 4 1.000 2nd Half: 1- 2 .500 OT 2-2 1.000 Game: .875 Deadball: 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICIALS: John Palermo, Angie Lewis, Joanne Aldrich TECHNICAL FOULS: Delaware - none Vermont - none ATTENDANCE: 3006 SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL Delaware 24 34 11 69 Vermont 25 33 6 64 America East Championship Game.

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