As Albany’s Lilly Phillips drove to the basket, Vermont’s Bella Vito, the America East’s defensive player of the year, stuck her hands in and poked the ball free and picked up the loose ball. On the other end, Anna Olson cashed in on the steal, scoring a layup over Kayla Cooper to give visiting Vermont a five-point cushion in Friday’s America East championship game.

The sequence was part of a decisive third quarter for Vermont women’s basketball at Albany’s Broadview Center. And in a battle of two of the top-10 scoring defenses in the nation, the Catamounts were the ones enforcing their will to sway control.

And the conference’s ultimate prize was Vermont’s once again.

Leaning on that game-swinging third quarter and withstanding a fourth-quarter comeback bid, the No. 2 Catamounts seized a 62-55 win over top-seeded host Albany for the program’s second league title in three seasons.

Vermont (21-12) earned the the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and will learn its next stop Sunday at 8 p.m. on ESPN during the Women’s March Madness Selection Show. It will mark the Catamounts’ eighth trip to March Madness.

The Great Danes (26-6) lost to Vermont for the third straight year in the league playoffs, including both title-game matchups.

The Catamounts held the Great Danes scoreless for the final six-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter while forcing UAlbany to run the shot clock down to under five seconds on multiple possessions throughout the game.

The Catamounts also handed the Great Danes their only home loss (16-1) this winter.

The Catamounts got off to a much better start Friday than their trip there on Jan 2. In that game Vermont shot just 16.67% from the field in the opening quarter and trailed 16-4 after the first 10 minutes.

The Catamounts sported a different lineup than the one they used in their conference opener against the Great Danes. Malia Lenz and Keira Hanson started that Jan. 2 game, but Vermont rolled with its usual lineup with Nikola Priede and Sarah Ericson joining Catherine Gilwee, Olson and Vito in the starting five.

It was a different story in the America East championship. Vermont started the game 6 of 11 from the field, with Priede and Vito getting open looks in the paint.

The first half featured 13 lead changes with the teams tied at 28-28. But there was only one more lead change in the second half when the Catamounts scored the first bucket in the third quarter.

Priede scored 10 points in the first half and led the Catamounts with 20 points and nine rebounds, providing the bulk of the offense early earning the tournament’s most outstanding player award. Gilwee added 12 points while Olson finished with 11 points and six boards. Keira Hanson chipped in nine points.

Vermont finished 22 of 48 from the field, production that included 12 of 22 shooting in the second half. Of their 62 points, 38 came in the paint. The Catamounts defense was on point forcing 14 turnovers including seven steals.

For Albany, Cooper (18 points, eight rebounds) and Jessica Tomasetti (14 points, seven points) paced the hosts. Albany shot 22 of 43 for the game, but just 2 of 9 in the third.

Check back later for an updated story.

Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.

The Vermont Lottery offers several draw games for those willing to make a bet to win big.

Those who want to play can enter the MegaBucks and Lucky for Life games as well as the national Powerball and Mega Millions games. Vermont also partners with New Hampshire and Maine for the Tri-State Lottery, which includes the Mega Bucks, Gimme 5 as well as the Pick 3 and Pick 4.

Drawings are held at regular days and times, check the end of this story to see the schedule. Here’s a look at March 13, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Gimme 5 numbers from March 13 drawing

02-13-15-23-32

Check Gimme 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life VT numbers from March 13 drawing

19-24-27-32-38, Lucky Ball: 12

Check Lucky For Life VT payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 13 drawing

Day: 1-6-5

Evening: 7-9-5

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 13 drawing

Day: 5-1-0-0

Evening: 5-4-6-8

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

For Vermont Lottery prizes up to $499, winners can claim their prize at any authorized Vermont Lottery retailer or at the Vermont Lottery Headquarters by presenting the signed winning ticket for validation. Prizes between $500 and $5,000 can be claimed at any M&T Bank location in Vermont during the Vermont Lottery Office’s business hours, which are 8a.m.-4p.m. Monday through Friday, except state holidays.

For prizes over $5,000, claims must be made in person at the Vermont Lottery headquarters. In addition to signing your ticket, you will need to bring a government-issued photo ID, and a completed claim form.

All prize claims must be submitted within one year of the drawing date. For more information on prize claims or to download a Vermont Lottery Claim Form, visit the Vermont Lottery’s FAQ page or contact their customer service line at (802) 479-5686.

Vermont Lottery Headquarters

1311 US Route 302, Suite 100

Barre, VT

05641

When are the Vermont Lottery drawings held?

• Powerball: 10:59p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
• Mega Millions: 11p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
• Gimme 5: 6:55p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Lucky for Life: 10:38p.m. daily.
• Pick 3 Day: 1:10p.m. daily.
• Pick 4 Day: 1:10p.m. daily.
• Pick 3 Evening: 6:55p.m. daily.
• Pick 4 Evening: 6:55p.m. daily.
• Megabucks: 7:59p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

What is Vermont Lottery Second Chance?

Vermont’s 2nd Chance lottery let’s players enter eligible non-winning instant scratch tickets into a drawing to win cash and/or other prizes. Players must register through the state’s official Lottery website or app. The drawings are held quarterly or are part of an additional promotion, and are done at Pollard Banknote Limited in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Vermont editor. You can send feedback using this form.

“My job has never been so exciting,” Anne Bordonaro, who leads the Vermont Agency of Education’s work on federal education programs, told lawmakers in the House and Senate Education Committees Thursday. 

Exciting, though, could easily be replaced with “chaotic.”

The fate of the U.S. Department of Education remains an open question. Just this week, the department’s new leader, one-time professional wrestling company CEO Linda McMahon, announced plans to cut the department’s staff in half. An onslaught of executive orders from President Donald Trump and his administration have destabilized public schools nationwide, and court cases challenging the president’s actions only add to the ever changing landscape.

“As you can imagine, just about anything you put on paper is obsolete about 30 minutes later,” Bordonaro told lawmakers. 

At the moment, the agency doesn’t expect “significant cuts” to “core education programs” as a result of federal funding reductions this school year or next, according to Bordonaro. But impacts in the 2026-27 school year are uncertain. 

Through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the state receives more than $68 million annually from the feds, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides another $37.5 million for Vermont’s schools, Bordonaro said, among other streams of federal dollars. 

But while the biggest potential changes may not be imminent, the turmoil in Washington is already trickling down to local classrooms. 

Brooke Olsen-Farrell, superintendent of the Slate Valley Unified School District, said in the joint hearing that her relatively low-income district relies on federal dollars to pay for all of its academic interventionists and school psychologists, among other staff. 

Slate Valley’s school board, worried about drastic actions in Washington, instructed Olsen-Farrell to add language to the contracts of about 20 staff making their positions contingent on federal grant funding. 

“So they all received contracts today with that in it and to say there was a lot of emotion is an understatement,” she told lawmakers. “I’m significantly worried about retention and stability.” 

— Ethan Weinstein

In the know

The Vermont Senate voted Thursday 22-8 to confirm Zoie Saunders as education secretary, ending a yearlong saga over her appointment. 

Last spring, the Senate voted 19-9 not to confirm her as the education secretary, a rare rejection of a cabinet appointment. Now, with education policy dominating conversations in Montpelier, Saunders has served as the face of Gov. Phil Scott’s “education transformation proposal,” which seeks school district consolidation and a new education funding formula. The goal, she’s said, is to expand educational opportunities while also reducing costs. 

“What she’s trying to do is provide the best opportunity she can for every kid in the state,” Sen. Seth Bongartz, D-Bennington, chair of the Senate Education Committee said, explaining his support for Saunders on the Senate floor. 

Yet many senators who opposed Saunders’ appointment last year once again spoke out against her confirmation. Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, told her colleagues she’d heard even more opposition to Saunders from constituents this year than last year. 

“I have to vote no,” White said. “We can resist school closures and consolidations.”

Read more about the confirmation debate here. 

Federal fallout

With tensions rising between the U.S. and Canada, Vermont businesses have been caught in the crossfire of a simmering trade war between the two countries. 

Already facing the prospect of price hikes and supply chain disruptions due to tariffs on Canadian goods that Trump has enacted and postponed multiple times, Vermont companies now have to contend with another knock-on effect of fraying tensions between the nations: Canadians are shunning Vermont goods.

Signature Vermont brands from Skida to Barr Hill are paying the price. Read the story here. 

— Habib Sabet

Funding aimed at making a struggling Williamstown farm more resilient has been paused. A program that distributes local, free food has been cancelled. The Department of Environmental Conservation is missing $10.7 million for clean water quality projects. 

In the last few months, the new Trump administration has pulled back federal funding related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, climate change and the Inflation Reduction Act, signed in 2022 by his predecessor Joe Biden. 

Around Vermont, those funding changes are affecting farmers and the organizations that support them, prompting alarm and confusion. Altogether, the federal government has paused or cancelled tens of millions of dollars in funding for agricultural programs across the state.

Read more about the federal funding cuts for farmers here.

— Emma Cotton