The University of Vermont women’s basketball team will face No. 13 University of Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The Catamounts earned a No. 14 seed in this year’s March Madness tournament after defeating the University of Maine to win the America East Championship on March 13. The team traveled to Kentucky on Thursday to prepare to take on No. 3 seed Louisville this weekend on the Cardinals’ home court.
This is the second straight NCAA Tournament appearance for Vermont, and its the third under head coach Alisa Kresge. The No. 15 seeded 2024-25 squad also played a first round tournament game in their opponent’s home gym, losing to No. 2 seed NC State after a 6-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter ballooned into a 20-point loss.
“I think we came in with the mentality at NC State like, 'OK, this is not the first time this team is doing it,'” Kresge said. “Our players were always bought in, and [encouraged] not to be afraid of the moment, not to be afraid of length or athleticism or all of these teams that you see on TV and everyone's picking to win a national title.”
Kresge is anticipating that support from fans will make for a big home-court advantage for Louisville in Saturday’s contest, and she said she’s doing her best to make sure her team is prepared.
“We actually have been playing crowd noise in practice,” she said. “We gotta figure out how to use hand signals and how our players have to be extra connected. [The players] can’t hear the bench as much, especially when they’re on the opposite side of the floor.”
"They're bigger, stronger, quicker, whatever it may be, but we're Vermont, and we know who we are."Alisa Kresge, UVM women's basketball head coach
Louisville is making its 15th straight tournament appearance under head coach Jeff Walz. The Cardinals have made the tournament in 16 of his 18 seasons at the helm.
Vermont and Louisville will play at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 21. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
Vermont comes into the game allowing only 51.4 points per game — good enough for fourth in the nation — while Louisville’s balanced scoring attack is putting up a top-20 mark of nearly 80 points each game.
“They're on their home court," Kresge said. "They're bigger, stronger, quicker, whatever it may be, but we're Vermont, and we know who we are, and we gotta own that, and we're going to use that to our advantage as best we can."
