LOWELL, Mass. – Brianna Rudolph (Lynn, Mass.) scored five points in the final 75 seconds as the UMass Lowell women's basketball team picked up its first-ever America East opener victory, fending off Vermont, 54-51, on Wednesday night.
 
After a 21-9 Catamount (4-9, 0-1) run over an 11-minute span spreading over third and fourth quarters, the River Hawks (5-9, 1-0) faced a 51-49 deficit entering the final 4:44 of regulation.
 
Neither team could add to the scoreboard until Rudolph knotted the contest from the free throw line, and drove through the paint to give the hosts the lead for good with 41 seconds to play. The guard connect on one final free throw, and Vermont could not extend the game in the final seconds.
 
"We're 1-0 in the conference," said Head Coach Tom Garrick. "I thought we played really well for the first three quarters tonight. At the beginning of the fourth quarter we had a little bit of a lapse, I thought we got a little fatigued, but we were playing the people at that time we thought would be most successful. I'm really proud of the fact that our kids fought back after giving up a 12-point lead and never lost confidence."
 
Rudolph led four UMass Lowell players in double-figures with 17 points, supported by Katherine Smith's (Fort Wayne, Ind.) 11 and 10 apiece from Ren'Cia Rolling (Lansing, Ill.) and Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla.)
 
After the Catamounts opened the scoring, UMass Lowell answered with a 9-0 run, sparked by a Rolling three-pointer. Vermont responded with eight straight of its own to go back in front, before Bri Stiers (Denver, Colo.) regained the advantage for the hosts with a jumper.
 
Vermont built a four-point buffer in the late stages of the first, but UMass Lowell overlapped the quarter break with 11 of the next 13 points to hold a 24-19 advantage. The hosts retook the lead at 22-19 lead following an Idom triple with 8:15 remaining in the first half.
 
The visitors cut the deficit to two points, 26-24, before five straight points for the River Hawks, including another three from Idom, resulted in the largest lead of the first half for either side. Vermont connected on a triple in the final seconds before intermission to pull within 33-28 entering the final 20 minutes.
 
UMass Lowell jumped out of the third quarter on a 7-2 run to open a 40-30 advantage, before taking a game-high 47-35 buffer with 2:15 left to play in the third. Vermont continued to trim the gap and turned a 49-42 deficit to a 51-49 lead in three minutes to set up the dramatics.
 
Hanna Crymble scored 12 points for the visitors, the only Vermont player to finish with more than eight points.
 
The River Hawks head to Long Island for their first America East road contest of the season at Stony Brook on January 5 at 2 p.m.