Thirty-four Boston University women’s basketball teams have come and gone without a single victory over a nationally ranked opponent.

There will be no thirty-fifth.

Last night, BU defeated No. 24 University of Vermont, 73-64, in a rematch of last year’s America East title game for its first win over a ranked opponent in program history.

Although the Terriers’ (9-8, 5-0) win over the Catamounts (14-4, 4-1) may be considered one of the best, if not the best, in team history, BU coach Kelly Greenberg was quick to put it back into perspective as a conference win, first and foremost.

‘Our conference is so important to take each game one game a time,’ Greenberg said. ‘I know it’s a clich’eacute;. I know coaches love to say that, and these guys are excited we beat Vermont. But you know what, beating Vermont tonight feels great, but maybe it doesn’t feel so great if we lose the next two.’

Freshman guard Chantelle Alford set a record of her own with a career-high 28 points to lead all scorers. The West Haven, Conn. native went 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, including a game-changing 3 from the right wing to put BU back on top, 52-49, with 8:57 left to go in the game.

Sophomore forward Caroline Stewart had a career night of her own, wiping the glass clean for a career-high 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Mo Moran added 20 points and eight assists from the point guard position.

Equally important was BU’s ability to shut down Vermont senior guard May Kotsopoulos in the second half.

She scored 18 of the Catamounts’ first 30 points and gave Vermont a 15-point lead in the first half.

Then, BU coach Kelly Greenberg began to alternate a man-to-man defensive scheme with the team’s base zone defense, assigning Alford to Kotsopoulos in the man-to-man to keep the senior from getting open looks behind the arc.

Kotsopoulos, who averages 18.5 points per game, had scored 9 of those 18 points from range.

‘I noticed that she was a little too far behind the arc and liked to dribble a lot from back there,’ Alford said. ‘Coach said to force [Kotsopoulos] to her left because she likes to go right a lot so I tried to contain her that way.’

Kotsopolous did not hit a single field goal for the remainder of the contest and ended with 20 points.

The win over Kotsopoulos and the rest of the Catamounts was BU’s second conference win of the weekend after the team defeated the University at Albany (7-9, 0-3) Saturday at The Roof, 71-56.

Just like in the Vermont game, the Terriers found themselves in a hole early, down 12-4 five minutes into the contest.

Again, the BU defense found a way to clamp down and did not allow Albany to score another point for the next 9:16, as the Terriers went on an astounding 27-0 run to give themselves a 31-12 lead in the first half.

Although the Great Danes threatened to close the lead, they never got it to down to less than seven in the second half.

Alford again led the way with 13 points, while senior forward Aly Hinton added 12 points and eight rebounds. Moran and freshman guard Kristen Sims added 12 and 10 respectively to give the Terriers four double-digit scorers on the afternoon.

‘Our win tonight feels really good, but thankfully we got the win on Saturday too,’ Greenberg said.

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