College basketball is almost back in Burlington. The Vermont women’s basketball team opens up its season in Patrick Gymnasium on Nov. 4 against Missouri after a successful year where the Catamounts advanced to the Fab 4 of the WNIT.
Vermont once again is primed to compete for the America East championship, as the Catamounts are projected to finish third in the conference’s preseason poll.
Let’s dive in and learn more about the 2024-2025 squad.
New-look Catamounts
There will be a new era of Vermont women’s basketball after program stalwarts Emma Utterback and Delany Richason graduated. The two Indiana natives helped elevate the program during their career and were impactful on the court. The duo combined to average 21.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists a game last year.
“We have a lot of pieces that can help make up for those two that are obviously losing the leadership,” head coach Alisa Kresge said.
The Catamounts bring back plenty of talent, including preseason All-Conference player Anna Olson for her final year and returning America East Sixth Player of the Year Keira Hanson.
Additionally, Shelburne native Catherine Gilwee is fully recovered from her season-ending injury and is ready to slide back into the point guard role. During her sophomore year, Gilwee averaged 10.6 points a game and dished out 102 assists. Gilwee is one of Vermont’s best 3-point shooters, shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc during the 2022-2023 season.
“Obviously as a point guard that’s kind of my natural role is to lead the team,” Gilwee said. “I want to lead by example, lead by being vocal and make sure that the team stays together through it all.”
Hanson and Gilwee will be formidable duo from beyond the arc in their first season sharing the court together.
Kresge expects Hanson and Bella Vito to take on bigger roles now that Vito can slide back in to her natural spot of playing wing.
Yet there are two starter spots that still need to be hashed out which could go to some newcomers or returning players who didn’t see lots of action last year.
“I think we got six to seven players that could really start against any opponent,” Kresge said. “… There’s a lot of moving parts right now.”
New faces
There are some other returners fighting for minutes including Nikola Priede and Sarah Lazar who provide depth in the four and five positions. Priede appeared in every game last year coming off the bench, contributing 3 points a game.
“Nikola has her little jumper game and goes to the rim so she’s really confident in the paint,” Vito said.
One newcomer that has impressed Kresge and the team is Sarah Ericson. The Norwich, Connecticut, native played D-II basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas where she earned the All-Met D-II Player of the Year twice. In just 88 games, Ericson scored 1,144 points and grabbed 712 rebounds.
“She is super scrappy and I think she’ll be a big influence for us because she is just ready to get down on the floor and we really need that on this team,” Olson said.
Ericson is one the seven total newcomers to the Catamounts program with five being freshmen helping establish the future of Vermont women’s basketball.
Tough non-conference schedule
During an interview with the Field of 68, Kresge mentioned that playing UNC and pushing the Tar Heels to the brink last year helped give her team the confidence to play Purdue in its own building during last year’s WNIT. They secured the 67-59 upset of the Boilermakers as the team played basketball into April, ultimately bowing out vs. Saint Louis, 57-54.
Vermont isn’t shying away from playing tough opponents again. Kresge assembled a challenging non-conference schedule where the Catamounts will play teams from the Big 10, SEC and Big East, as well as Ivy League preseason favorite Princeton. Besides those challenging matchups, Vermont will travel to Alaska and Cancun for neutral-site tournaments.
“We’re playing a lot of good teams, we’re traveling a lot so that combination is going to be tricky, but I think it’s going to make us better especially when it gets to conference play,” Gilwee said.
Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: UVM women’s basketball 2024-2025 season preview Alisa Kresge
