Senior Cerie Mosgrove led UMass in scoring with 15 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc. Megan Zullo and Jasmine Watson were the only other Minutewomen to reach double-digits in scoring. Zullo tallied 10 points and now has six-straight games in double figures.
Watson recorded 13 points in her first game back from injury and narrowly missed a double-double. Watson, last season’s Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, served as a dominant inside force for UMass, grabbing nine rebounds, three assists, one blocked shot and one steal.
“I thought she looked really good,” UMass head coach Sharon Dawley said in a press release. “She had some good post moves, and some good rebounds. I’m pretty excited about having her back and having her be able to play confidently every day.”
Despite a few things to be proud of on offense, Dawley was not pleased with her team’s efforts on defense.
“I was pretty disappointed in the defensive effort,” Dawley said in the release. “I don’t think we played good team defense like we did against Boston College. We didn’t do a good job on the glass either. I think we only had one offensive board.”
The teams were evenly matched throughout much of the first half, trading shots and baskets. However, when the Minutewomen got careless with the ball at the tail end of the half, things turned troublesome.
“We were just out of sync,” Dawley said in the release. “We came in after a great game over the weekend and we were pretty out-of-sync today.”
After trailing by eight points at halftime, the Maroon and White were unable to regain composure in the second half as BU jumped out to an even bigger lead. The Terriers outscored the Minutewomen, 28-19 and connected on 50 percent of their field goals to ensure the victory and stave off any hopes of a UMass comeback.
The Minutewomen finished the game with 22 turnovers and no fast-break points, something that Dawley had said worked for them in the past few games. The turnovers directly resulted in 23 points for BU. The Terriers (3-7) also shot about 30 percent from 3-point range and 60 percent from the free throw line.
BU had three players in double-digits, led by Mo Moran, who netted 20 points and seven assists and also tallied three steals and two rebounds. Only she and Zullo played the full 40 minutes without being substituted out.
Alex Young and Chantell Alford each contributed 14 and 13 points, respectively, and Kerry Cashman grabbed nine rebounds.
Shakia Robinson notched six rebounds for UMass, and senior Stephanie Lawrence also had five boards.
“It will be great to get home again,” Dawley said in the release. “We don’t have much time to prepare, but we’ve got to come together again and firm up our defense and talk more on the floor, and we’ve got to get back in sync on offense.”
The Minutewomen dropped to 1-8 on the season following the loss, and will return to the Mullins Center on Saturday, Dec. 11 to face Binghamton in an afternoon matchup.
Michael Wood can be reached at [email protected].
