Rich Lombard/Collegian

The Massachusetts women’s basketball team won’t be on the road in the first game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Saint Joseph’s Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse in Philadelphia – however, they also won’t be playing at home. The Minutewomen (13-16, 5-9 A-10) enjoyed a successful regular season at the Mullins Center, finishing 11-3. When they played away from home, it was an entirely different story. UMass won two games in 15 attempts away from home. The two wins came against Wagner and La Salle, the former finished with a 7-22 record while the latter failed to qualify for the A-10 Tournament. One thing working in the favor of UMass is a familiarity with its first round opponent. The Minutewomen defeated Dayton, 56-46, at the Mullins Center on Feb. 23, behind 23 points and 10 rebounds from Kate Mills. The Dayton players couldn’t match the size of UMass and if the Minutewomen can get the ball in the post to Mills, they’ll have a good chance to replicate the success of their first victory over the Flyers. Freshman Teya Wright could also play an important factor in the game. She recorded seven rebounds in the first meeting and should receive plenty of open looks down low, since Dayton will likely make another player besides Mills beat them.

Assists important Though struggling with turnovers this season, the Minutewomen have excelled when sharing the ball. The team’s turnovers have been consistently high this season but when the Minutewomen share the ball they have the ability to make up for some of these turnovers. In its regular-season finale loss against Temple, UMass assisted on 11 baskets while turning the ball over 13 times. It will be vital that the Minutewomen have a better assist-to-turnover ratio if they hope to make a deep run in the conference tournament. A first-round victory against Dayton would set up a rematch against Charlotte. The Minutewomen fell to the 49ers, 53-44, on Jan. 15. One key factor in the game was turnovers. UMass turned the ball over 28 times while assisting on 11 baskets, slightly better than a 1-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Mills’ block record The forward had eight blocks against St. Bonaventure one week ago, giving her 189 for her career. The previous block record at UMass was set by Melissa Gurile during the 1992/93 season. Mills recorded two more blocks in the loss to Temple and will look to extend upon her record during the conference tournament. In her final season, the senior is putting up numbers that will place her on one of the A-10 All-Conference teams. Prior to this year’s campaign, Mills was picked as a preseason second team selection but will likely make the first team when the season awards are announced. She is third in the conference with an average of 17.4 points per game and her 6.9 rebounds per contest rank ninth in the A-10. Mills is also fifth in field goal percentage, second in free-throw percentage and third in blocks per game. Mike Connors can be reached at [email protected].