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LOWELL, Mass. – Led by Shannon Samuels' (Windsor, Conn.) game-high 25 points, the UMass Lowell women's basketball team cruised past Vermont, 72-63, at the Tsongas Center on Sunday.
 
The River Hawks snapped a five-game losing streak and improved their record to 8-12 overall and climb to 2-6 in the America East while the Catamounts fall to 3-16 and 0-6 in the AE.
 
UMass Lowell had three players reach double-figure point totals with junior Lindsey Doucette (Hopkinton, Mass.) scoring 12 and senior Jasmine McRoy (Gaithersburg, Md.) who recorded her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Samuels, who had 21 points in the last three games combined, started the contest by pouring in 11 of her teams first 17 points and notched her sixth 20-point game of the season. The senior guard matched the program record that she set earlier this year for free throws attempted, going 11-of-17 from the stripe.
 
The River Hawks were stout defensively throughout, and held UVM without a field goal from 13:26 to 7:59 of the first half to extend a two-point lead to six. The team turned eight first half turnovers into 12 points and finished with 25 points off of 20 Vermont turnovers.
 
The Catamounts went on a 10-4 spurt to cut what was a 12-point lead for the River Hawks to a 37-31 contest at the half.
 
Led by five from junior Melissa Frase (Tamworth, N.H.), UMass Lowell came out firing to start the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points. The River Hawks outscored the Catamounts 25-14 over the opening 11 minutes of the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 17.
 
The River Hawks will have a week off until they host Binghamton at 2 p.m. on February 1.