Courtnay Pilypaitis scored 25 points, May Kotsopoulos added 14 and Vermont survived squandering a 14-point lead in the first half to beat seventh-seed Wisconsin 58-52 on Sunday, the Catamounts' first NCAA tournament victory in six tries.
The 10th-seeded Catamounts (27-6) bucked the trend of the higher seed winning in this year's tournament by overcoming missing their first nine shots of the second half. Wisconsin (21-11) opened the second half on a 12-0 run to go ahead 37-33.
But the Badgers, who had come back from double-digit deficits three times this season, couldn't hold off the Catamounts. After Kotsopoulos hit a 3 to tie the score at 39, Pilypaitis scored on a layup, then added another basket 19 seconds later.
After Alyssa Karel hit a 3 for Wisconsin, Vermont went on a 9-2 run to extend the lead to 55-46. Wisconsin never got closer than four points.
