P.J. Stanley/Collegian

Wednesday night’s 77-63 loss to St. Joseph‘s won’t affect the Massachusetts women’s basketball team’s postseason, since they already made the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The Minutewomen (11-17, 4-9 A-10), played without starting center Teya Wright, who was held out of the game for precautionary measures. Wright suffered a head injury in UMass’ last game against Rhode Island.

Sophomore Val Avebe replaced Wright in the lineup and matched up against Brittany Ford, the leading scorer for the Hawks (13-15, 5-8 A-10). Ford led all St. Joe’s players with 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

Ford’s having a breakout year for the Hawks, averaging 12 points per game after averaging eight last season.

Both the Minutewomen and St. Joe’s spent a lot of time in the post. UMass scored 34 points in the paint while the Hawks had 32.

‘ ‘I didn’t know how we were going to be in the paint without the services of Teya Wright,’ UMass coach Marnie Dacko said. ‘I’m frustrated with our defense. I’d like us to be able to defend [consistently] and have the offense kick in off of our defense.’

The Minutewomen are fortunate to have players that slash or muscle their way to the basket. Forward Kristina Danella was a pure post player in high school and she’s developed into a pure shooter as well.

She drew fouls multiple times scoring four of her 13 points from the foul-line and scoring nine from 3-point range.

Senior Sakera Young had a career night at The Palestra, netting a career-high 23 points and a team-leading six rebounds. Junior guard Kim Benton had six boards as well.

Sophomore Cerie Mosgrove played for only eight minutes, limiting the UMass 3-point threat. Danella scored the only shots on the team from beyond the arc. Danella’s defense is improving every game, as evident by her three steals.

Captain Stefanie Gerardot was cold on the night, going 3-for-10 from the field. Like Young and Danella however, Gerardot did get to the foul line. Gerardot hit three of her four shots at the line.

As graduating seniors at the end of this season, Gerardot and Young are paving the way for a young team that shows tremendous promise in defense. Freshman center Nicole Jones played 27 minutes in the game and had six points, two blocks, a steal and four rebounds.

New leaders are already immerging on the team, Wright being the best example. Wright’s work ethic is being mimicked by players up and down the roster. Danella’s footwork is improving, Jones is becoming a better scorer in the post and Avebe is always one of the first players up the court in transition.

Diatiema Hill is another player to watch for in future games. She’s averaging 5.1 points per game and she’s very quietly becoming a better player. Against the Hawks, she scored eight points, with four rebounds and three assists. Hill is a defensive staple for the Minutewomen and once her scoring improves, she will be tremendous for UMass.

Yet with such players like Hill and Benton getting more rebounds than post players, something’s not right.

‘ ‘We’ve got to get a body on someone and go up and rebound,’ Dacko said. ‘Just not being able to defend hurt us.’

With the conference tournament looming, the Minutewomen are both a young team and a team with a lower win total. UMass hasn’t advanced to the second round of the A-10 tournament in the last five years and in this being termed by many as a rebuilding year.

UMass has been lucky enough to play its last few games against some of the lesser teams in the conference, which can only better its younger players. The Minutewomen will have its final chance to prepare for the tournament as it faces La Salle (10-18, 1-12 A-10) on Saturday.

Mike Gillmeister can be reached at mgillmei@student.umass.edu.