Vermont senior Emma Utterback enters tonight’s game at Indiana with career totals of 838 points, 270 rebounds and 244 assists.
Submitted photo
It remains uncertain the exact number of Emma Utterback supporters who’ll file into Indiana University’s Assembly Hall this evening.
Just know a good portion will be wearing green.
Utterback, accustomed to showcasing her skills and unceasing tenacity on basketball courts throughout the Northeast the past three seasons as Vermont’s starting point guard, is back on familiar soil as the Catamounts open the season against the 11th-ranked Hoosiers.
Friends. Family. Friends of friends. Friends of family.
The senior’s cluster of followers tonight is expected to be in the 30- to 50-person range. Perhaps even more.
The team’s Midwestern swing continues Friday night with a game at Miami of Ohio, and then it’s back to Burlington, Vermont, a city of roughly 45,000 residents located 45 miles south of the Canadian border.
It’s there that the 5-foot-8 Utterback, one of three senior captains and a preseason All-America East Conference selection after averaging 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists as a junior, has called home since graduating from Center Grove in 2019.
“It’s been a crazy experience. I feel like my leadership skills have been tested since my freshman year,” said Utterback, a starter in every one of the Catamounts’ 67 games played since she arrived. “Because I was the point guard, you have to be an extension of the coach on the floor.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to develop into more of a vocal leader, too.”
Interestingly, one of the team’s other captains this season also hails from Indiana — 6-1 senior forward/center Delaney Richason, a product of Zionsville. Together, they helped the Catamounts produce one of their most successful seasons last winter by finishing 20-11 overall and 13-5 in conference play.
Now that the Vermont program has turned a corner after producing a mark of 86-212 during the previous 10 full seasons (it was 4-2 during the COVID-abbreviated 2020-21 season), Utterback badly wants the Catamounts to take the next step.
“We had a winning season last year, and made it to the semifinals of our conference tournament,” she said. “Our main goal now is to win the conference tournament and make it to the NCAA tournament.”
Utterback has scored 838 points in her Vermont career — 17 of those in a season-opening 72-38 rout of Division II St. Michael’s last Friday. She likely would have bypassed the 1,000-point marker by now had her sophomore season not been blindsided by a global pandemic.
There is time.
After graduating over the summer with her bachelor’s degree in public communications, Utterback has begun work on a two-year master’s program in public administration. She plans to use her NCAA-issued fifth season of athletic eligibility and continue being a mainstay in the Vermont backcourt through the 2023-24 campaign.
Fourth-year Catamounts coach Alisa Kresge looks forward to having her coach on the floor for two more seasons.
“Emma is a special player who has been a lot of fun to work with and watch grow as a student-athlete,” Kresge said. “What has really stood out to me is each year Emma has worked hard to continue to evaluate her game and never being satisfied with what she has accomplished.
“She’s matured into one of our leaders, and I’m excited to see her flourish in this role.”
As are the rest of the green-clads making their way toward Bloomington tonight.
