By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

When host Notre Dame takes on upstart Vermont tonight in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Fighting Irish will need to find a way to keep the Catamounts guards in check.

Notre Dame, the No. 2 seed, needs to stop Vermont’s Courtnay Pilypaitis and May Kotsopoulos.

Problem is, at 6-foot-1, Pilypaitis presents a big matchup issue for the Fighting Irish.
“Well, size is the biggest concern,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said on Monday.
“Pilypaitis is 6-1 and has a pretty big frame, put her next to Skylar (Diggins) and she looks a lot bigger. That’s a concern of how we are going to guard them. Pilypaitis is quick and a very good shooter, so we have to figure out the matchups and who do we want on her for most of the time and how many different things can we do. Can we mix up our defenses a little bit more, can we do some things they haven’t seen before?”

Notre Dame got off to a slow start on Sunday in its opening round win over Cleveland State. McGraw knows that her team cannot take time to get out of the gates tonight against the Catamounts because they could find themselves in a dogfight.

“I’m very impressed with them and their poise,” she said. “I think yesterday’s game was really an indication of four seniors in their starting lineup and they came out and played like a senior-led team. They have some tournament experience being in the tournament last year and having to play UConn in the first round. I think coming out here and winning in the first round is not just good for Vermont but the America East Conference.

“I have a lot of respect for them and their conference. I have seen Hartford play a couple of times, and happened to catch their Vermont game earlier in the year and was able to watch them yesterday. They are a really poised, veteran team, and an experienced team that doesn’t beat themselves. They don’t make a lot of mistakes, that was probably the thing we looked at first, how few turnovers they had in the game which is something we want to attribute to their senior guards.”

Vermont has now won 11 of its last 12 basketball games and would like to continue its run in the NCAA tournament by picking up a huge upset victory.

“We’re very excited to be here; we all packed enough stuff for Wednesday,” Catamounts coach Sharon Dawley said. “We knew if we played very good defense we had a shot at winning against Wisconsin. I’m very proud of our ladies. They played so hard, so strong, so intense. Our experience at the (America East) championship game prepared us, because we had a lead, Wisconsin came roaring back and we came roaring back and were able to maintain that lead.

“Another win would be another historic thing for the University of Vermont and for women’s basketball (at Vermont). We’re very excited to be here. We sat back and enjoyed the win until about 9 o’clock last night and then it was right back to business. Our mentality is not to come here just to be here but to come here and battle,” she added.

With that being said, Dawley expects her team to come out, play hard and leave nothing on the table.

“If you ask our girls, they’ll tell you they’re preparing to win,”‘ she said. “I don’t think we can look at it any other way. We don’t want to come in with the mindset that we’re an underdog and that we’ve done what we’re going to do and be happy with that. Every step you take, you think you’re going to be happy with it, but as soon as you achieve that step you want the next step.

“We all said if we can just win (the America East) championship and go to the NCAA (Tournament), we’ll be happy. We did that, then we said if we can win the first round game, we’ll be happy. Then last night, we said if we can make the Sweet 16, we’ll be happy. I think that’s what competitors do. Right now, we will only be happy going to Kansas City.”

Tipoff is slated for 7:16 p.m. and the game can be seen live on ESPN2.