In its last road trip of the season, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team is looking to come home with some momentum.
On tap for the Minutewomen are conference rivals St. Bonaventure and Richmond. St. Bonaventure beat UMass in their last meeting on Jan. 18, at the Mullins Center 70-58.
The Minutewomen have yet to play Richmond this season.
St. Bonaventure has been struggling recently, due to the loss of their leading scorer and point guard, Stef Collins. Collins broke her ankle in the first quarter against Rhode Island on Feb. 8.
Collins paced the Bonnies in their victory over the Minutewomen, scoring 20 points on the night going 6 of 7 from the field.
St. Bonnaventure suffered another big loss Thursday night with the suspension of Tory Vyborny, Shannon Bodamer and Tamica Barnett. Vyborny is third on the team in scoring with 7.7 points per game.
The Bonnies have lost their last two games, including a 68-36 dismantling at the hands of Temple, who is currently in first place in the Atlantic 10 West.
“Temple played them without her and they came here and played us really tough, they were really emotional, and they came in without a win,” UMass head coach Marnie Dacko said, “they are going to be very physical, they have a good inside-outside game and they are going to pressure us into making mistakes.”
If the Minutewomen pull off the victory they will move ahead of the Bonnies and out of last place in the conference. UMass won’t try to attack the point with its point guard duo of Monique Govan and Cleo Foster because neither player is known for their offensive ability.
With this, the Minutewomen will need to contain Lyndsey Maurer and who is averaging 8.3 points per contest.
“She’s just one of them, I think that we’re going to have to keep our same look because Cleo and Mo aren’t great scorers, so we’re going to play them the same as we play everyone, to win,” Dacko said.
Richmond has been one of the better teams in the conference this season and is vying for a top spot in the upcoming A-10 tournament. The Lady Spiders are currently on a two-game winning streak and have a 9-1 record in the confines of the Robins Center.
Leading the way for Richmond has been Kate Flavin who is scoring 18.7 points per game. Flavin is also leading the A-10 in rebounds per game with 9.4 per contest. Assisting Flavin has been the all-around play of sophomore guard Saona Chapman, who is averaging 13.6 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game.
UMass assistant coach Mary Ciuk has been preparing for the fast paced Richmond offense, which has put on a shooting clinic all season. The Lady Spiders have averaged a conference best .465 shooting percentage inside the arch this season.
“Richmond is a smart team, they run it out and several of their players are shooting over 40 percent this year,” Ciuk said, “they are tough in that regard, because they are smart, they push the ball if they don’t have anything they stop and pop it out.”
One weakness for Richmond has been its play in the paint. Aside from Flavin, the Lady Spiders haven’t had much of a post presence this season. Freshman forward Alison Mitchell is the only other player on the squad with significant size, standing at 6 foot 3, but has yet to start a game for Richmond this season.
Cuik hopes that the athletic trio of Joyce Massey, Edris Bailey, and Tamara Tatham will be able to attack the post for the Minutewomen. In UMass’s 52-40 loss against St. Josephs, the trio scored all but four of its team’s points.
“They don’t have a post player and I would hope to think that they would have trouble with us playing with Edris and Tamara because of their size and quickness, I’m optimistic we can attack them inside,” Cuik said, “I think Joyce has been picking up the scoring slack and Edris has been performing the last couple of games, and Tamara came up big in the last game. So hopefully the three of those can work together to get us some points.”
The Minutewomen will play at Richmond on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip-off.
