Second Half Rally Fuels Women's Basketball's 81-76 Win Over Vermont

Saturday, November 15

Burlington, Vt.

2 pm

Brown University

1-0

Vermont

0-1

Brown

Vermont

Second Half Rally Fuels Women's Basketball's 81-76 Win Over Vermont

11/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Junior Jordin Alexander (Fishers, Ind.) shattered her previous career high with 27 points to cap a furious comeback in the Brown women's basketball team's 81-76 season-opening victory at Vermont on Saturday. The Bears improve to 1-0 under first-year Head Coach Sarah Behn and boast their second defeat of the Catamounts in as many seasons, dropping Vermont to 0-1.

"I'm so proud of the way our team competed out there today and being able to manage different matchups and defenses throughout the game," said Behn. "We went to a press in the second half and got more contributions, especially from Ellise Sharpe, who was a spark plug off the bench."

Rookie Janie White (Clarksville, Tenn.) chipped in with 13 points and a team high eight rebounds and three steals, while reigning NCAA three-point percentage leader, Sophie Bikofsky (Newton, Mass.) added 17 points.

Needing a spark in the second half, junior Ellise Sharpe (Tipp City, Ohio) delivered just what the Bears needed with nine points and two steals in 20 minutes of action.

The Bears kicked off the 2014-15 season with an early 5-0 lead on the strength of White's first collegiate trey. A 16-5 Catamount run gave the hosts their largest lead of the half at six, but Brown rallied to knot the game at 18 at the under-12 timeout.

An active Brown defense forced nine Vermont turnovers in the opening stanza, with the Bears converting for seven points off those miscues. After missing the final 10 contests in 2013-14, Alexander returned to form to register a team high 12 points in the opening half on 5-of-9 shooting from the field.

Vermont's success at tracking down loose balls helped them keep pace and eventually carry a one-point lead into the locker room on the strength of Kayla Burchill's nine points.

An early 8-0 run in the second half helped propel the host Catamounts to a 48-40 lead less than two minutes into the half. Trailing by 12 and seemingly on the ropes with 11 minutes to play, the Bears mounted a spirited comeback, eventually knotting the game at 74 on Sharpe's free throw with 1:52 on the clock.

Undaunted, Brown's 33-16 run in the final 11:27 was capped off on Alexander's layup to give Brown its first lead since the opening half with just 77 seconds to play. Keyed by 21 Vermont turnovers, including 12 in the second half, the Bears would not be denied on Saturday at Patrick Gymnasium.

After the Catamounts drew back within two with 12 seconds to play, free throws from Alexander and Sharpe iced Brown's third season-opening win in the prior 10 seasons.

Kylie Butler and Niki Taylor each posted 13 points to lead the way for the Catamounts.

Megan Reilly (Norwood, N.J.) added five points in her first collegiate action, while Natalie Ball (Orlando, Fla.) and Rebecca Musgrove (Plainview, N.Y.) chipped in with six and four points respectively. Alexander's five assists matched a career high for the junior.

Overall, the Bears shot at a 42-percent clip from the field and 66.7-percentage from the charity stripe (16-24).

Brown continues its three-game road trip to start the season with a cross-city battle against Providence on Tuesday at 7 p.m.