WEST HARTFORD, Conn.-- No. 2 Hartford and No. 3 Vermont each won quarterfinal games Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the 2009 America East Women's Basketball Championship at University of Hartford's Chase Arena. The Hawks and Catamounts will face each other Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the second semifinal.
It will be the fourth time Hartford and Vermont have played each other in the tournament, with the Catamounts having the slight 2-1 edge. The last time they met in the Championship was also in the semifinals in 2002, where Hartford upset Vermont who was the top-seeded team that year.
Hartford beat seventh-seeded Stony Brook in the earlier quarterfinal of the second session on Friday, 68-53, while Vermont rolled past sixth-seeded New Hampshire, 57-45.
Hartford was led by three post players, who combined for 45 points. Diana Delva led the Hawks with 17 points on 4-of-8 from the field and 8-of-9 at the free throw line. Joining Delva in leading Hartford was Erica Beverly and Katie Kelley who each finished with 14 points. Beverly, who scored her 1,000th career point in the first half, finished with 10 rebounds for her team-high ninth double-double of the season.
Stony Brook saw a strong showing from sophomore forward Kirsten Jeter, a third-team all-conference pick. Jeter finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds. Jeter was the only Seawolf in double figure points, while freshman Destiny Jacobs brought down a team-high eight boards from off the glass.
Both teams scored 26 points in the paint, but the Hawks' bench outscored the Seawolves' bench, 27-17.
The Hawks led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but a six-point run by the Seawolves beginning at 3:11 on a Kairsten Nunn jumper and ending with free-throw by Jacobs with under two minutes remaining set Stony Brook only six points behind at the break, 32-26.
Stony Brook got as close as two points, 34-32, on a lay-up by Jacobs, who finished with six points, at 17:22, but the Hawks began running away with it. Their largest lead of 16 came late in the game off a Mary Silvia jumper.
In the second game, Vermont led by 13 at the half, 30-17, with 48% shooting. Vermont junior guard May Kotsopoulos led the Catamounts with 17 points, four assists and two steals, while classmate Courtnay Pilypaitis finished with 15 points.
New Hampshire junior forward Candace Williams led all scorers in the game with 18 points and collected seven rebounds. Junior guard Amy Simpson chipped in 11 points and five assists, while junior Racheal Fowler recorded a game-high 11 boards.
Vermont's lead only dipped below single-digits for 22 seconds in the second stanza despite being outshot by the Wildcats. The Catamounts benefitted from New Hampshire turnovers, scoring 26 points off UNH miscues. Vermont was also successful in the paint, nearly doubling New Hampshire's points in the paint, 32-18.
Both of Saturday's semifinal games will be broadcast by New England Sports Network. The first semifinal, between Boston U. and Binghamton, will air live at 4 p.m., while the Hartford-Vermont semifinal at 6:30 p.m. will be shown only on taped delay Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Both games will be streamed live at the America East Zone on www.AmericaEast.com.