Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass women’s basketball drops 16th straight at GW

Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian
Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian

If the Massachusetts women’s basketball team was in contention for the 2014 NBA draft lottery, it would find itself in a strong position.

Unfortunately for the Minutewomen, there’s nothing worth losing for in college basketball, so their 78-54 loss to George Washington in the nation’s capital on Saturday — its 16th in a row — is just another letdown in a forgettable 2013-14 season. 

The opening minutes once again looked promising for UMass  (3-23, 0-12 Atlantic 10), as Jasmine Harris, Kiara Bomben and Emily Mital all scored on three consecutive possessions giving the Minutemen a 17-14 lead with 9:05 remaining in the first half.

But that was the last time UMass led the rest of the way.

Jonquel Jones opened up the second half with an outside jumper, which sparked an 8-0 run just two minutes, three seconds into the second half.

“For the first 18 minutes we played fairly well,” UMass coach Sharon Dawley said. “We dropped off a little bit before halftime then gave up eight quick points to start the half and that really killed our confidence.”

Jones was the focal point of the Dawley’s scouting report. The last time these two teams met the 6-foot-4 forward finished with 20 points and a career high 17 rebounds.

On Saturday, the Minutewomen held Jones to just six points and nine rebounds, only allowing her to take five shots from the field.  However, they couldn’t shut down forward Caira Washington. Washington finished with a game and career high 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting, and also set a new career high in rebounds with 16.

“We did a good job with (Jones) holding her to only six points, she’s probably the best player in the conference,” Dawley said. “However, her counterpart (Washington) scored 25 on us. We played such good defense on their stud, but we can’t allow someone else to go off.”

Kim Pierre-Louis led the Minutewomen with 14 points. Pierre-Louis’ played only 15 minutes after picking up two early fouls in the first half. This has been a reoccurring problem for the Minutewomen and Dawley acknowledge that her fouling issue has to be resolved.

“She has to stay on the floor more,” Dawley said of Pierre-Louis. “We can’t win that way.”

Kiara Bomben was the only other UMass player to score in double digits, scoring 13 points shooting 6 of 11 from the field.

Dawley made a major lineup adjustment by inserting co-captain Nola Henry back into the starting lineup for this first time since Jan. 18 against VCU. Henry has struggled for an extended part of the season while battling the flu after getting off to a hot start.

George Washington (18-8, 9-4 A 10) guard Danni Jackson made history for the Colonials after dishing out her 500th career assist late in the second half. Jackson is just the fourth player in GW history to achieve that mark and only the second player in program history to have at least 1,000 points and 500 assists.

When asked about the positives to take away from Saturday’s game Dawley said, “We stopped the best player in the conference, so we have to build on that and just keep looking forward.”

The Minutewomen return to action this Wednesday against Richmond, the first of a three game home stand at Mullins Center.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

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