Amy Simpson was on fire yesterday afternoon during the UNH women's basketball team' s America East quarter final match up against the University of Vermont. Unfortunately, the flame did not getting roaring until it was too late.
The sophomore guard and Connecticut native scored a game high 21 points, 14 in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the seventh Wildcats fell 70-45 to the second seeded Catamounts at Chase Arena on the University of Hartford Campus.
"I guess I just wasn't ready for the season to be over," said Simpson.
UNH, who was eliminated from the playoffs, finishes the season with an overall record of 7-22 and 4-12 in the America East. Vermont improves to 23-7, 13-3 in the conference. The Catamounts will move on to play Boston University today, at 7:00 p.m. in the second of two semifinal games.
"Vermont's a very very good team," said UNH head coach Kristin Cole. "They played exceptionally well today and they've got a lot of talent, as was showed. They were balanced today. Every body gave them good minutes."
Vermont came out of the gates firing, as they opened the game on a 9-0 run. UNH did not score their first points until more than five minutes into the game when sophomore forward Candace Williams converted two free throws.
Williams went on to score the Wildcats next four points which included the teams first field goal at 12:40 in the first half on a pull up jumper, to make the score 12-6. She finished the game 8-10 from the charity stripe, scoring 14 points and bringing in seven rebounds.
The Catamounts went up by as many as 10 halfway through the first frame, but a three by Amy Simpson, followed by a base line jumper after a UNH fast break, brought the Wildcats to within seven. That would be the closest UNH be for the remainder of the contests as the Vermont offense took off like a rocket.
"Obviously we are very excited we got past UNH," said Vermont head coach Sharon Dawley. "We have a lot of respect for them. I think they are on their way to becoming a great team."
Led by junior forward Kelli Poles who contributed 18 points and eight boards, and senior guard Sara Fenton who collected a game high 15 rebounds to go along with here eight points, Vermont was able to jump out to a twenty point lead when the half time buzzer blew.
Their presents in paint caused some problems for all five of the Wildcats post players, and helped Vermont not only out rebound UNH 47-28, but also outscore them in the paint 32-18.
"Kelli Poles is a strong player," said Williams. "She was giving us a hard time, not so much getting the ball, but getting into position, getting people out of the lanes. I don't we had as many boards as we should have had."
While UNH was unable to stifle the Catamounts offense, they were unable to penetrate their iron clad defense. Vermont, who finished the season with the leagues second best defense, held the Wildcats to just 28 percent shooting from the floor and 17 percent from beyond the arc. All three of UNH deep baskets came from Simpson.
"I think we were a little nervous in the beginning," said Simpson. "(Vermont) always puts a lot pressure on you and to have a couple of turnovers early, I think we started to get a little nervous. We weren't as aggressive as we should have been."
UNH did have some top notch defense of their own, most of which came from 2007 America East Rookie of the Year Denise Beliveau. The freshman forward phenom and her teammates absolutely shut down 2007 Player of the Year Courtnay Pilypaitis, who managed only four points and five rebounds, as well as committing nine turnovers.
Late in the second half was when Simpson single handedly found a chink in the Catamounts defense, as she scored 12 points in a four minute span, three coming off a deep three from the top of the key, and another four coming off the exact same play where Simpson took off down the right side of the lane for the scores.
But her late game heroics were unable to get UNH out of the deep hole they had been in for most of the game.
Freshman forward Kate Early also held her own in the second half. In fourteen minutes of play she grabbed four rebounds, scored two points, and got a steal.
This was not only the final game of the season for the Wildcats, but it was also the last collegiate game for senior guard Ashley Cerniglia. Unable to perform at 100 percent due to a torn labrum in her hip, Cerniglia was held scoreless in the game, but did record a game high three stills. She was taken out of the game with less then two minutes left in the second half, and was welcomed to the bench with a standing ovation by her teammates, coaches, and the Wildcat faithful who made the trip down to Hartford.
"I am really proud of our kids," said Cole. "We have a young team and we haven't been healthy all year. They've played hard and they've battled and the future is bright for our program."
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