The Massachusett’s women’s basketball team is in desperate need of a win, and getting one this Saturday could possibly save their season.
UMass (6-19, 2-8 Atlantic 10) is currently in 12th place in the conference as they are set to play on the road against George Washington this Saturday. The Colonials (7-16, 2-7 A-10) are currently ranked 11th in the A-10, as they squared off against Charlotte on Wednesday night.
The 49ers downed GW 71-55 in a game of two halves. The Colonials held Charlotte to 29 percent shooting in the first half for a 27-21 halftime lead, but the 49ers exploded for 50 points in the second half to defeat the Colonials at Halton Arena. Junior Tiana Myers led the team with 19 points, while sophomores Danni Jackson and Brooke Wilson each scored nine, with Wilson grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
While the defense was stout in the first half, holding the 49ers to their lowest point total in a half this season, Charlotte responded in the second half beginning with a 20-5 run and never looked back. With the win, the 49ers sit in fourth place amongst the A-10 standings.
The Colonials began conference play winless but picked things up with consecutive victories over Rhode Island and Saint Louis. UMass is trying to snap their six-game skid and avoid falling deeper in the A-10 standings.
The Colonials’ offensive numbers are pretty spread out amongst the hardwood. The team’s top three scorers are Tara Booker and Jackson, both averaging double-figures, and Myers averaging just under 10 points a game. Booker and Myers are GW’s greatest threat from the perimeter, leading the team with 36.8 and 34.7 percent 3-point shooting , respectively. Booker is also second on the team in rebounds with over six a game, behind Ivy Abiona who grabs nearly eight a game.
UMass dropped their sixth-consecutive game on Wednesday against Dayton. Senior Cerie Mosgrove posted her 14th straight game in double figures for the Minutewomen, leading all scorers with 13 points. Megan Zullo followed with 12 points and four assists, while sophomore Jasmine Watson contributed eight points, six rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore Dee Montgomery grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with eight points and five assists.
The Flyers led by 12 with 15:19 remaining, but UMass rallied with six unanswered points before stringing together a 9-1 scoring run with the help of a Mosgrove three-point play to bring the game to 59-58. Samantha Mackay hit a 3-pointer with 2:11 left to extend the lead to four for the Flyers. After a missed opportunity by the Minutewomen on offense, UMass was forced to foul De’Sarae Chambers and Brittany Wilson, both of whom converted their pair of free throws to put the game out of reach. The Minutewomen dropped the game 66-58.
“We were only down one with two minutes to go we just didn’t execute though down the stretch. It’s disheartening and disappointing obviously to play extremely well against the upper echelon of teams and come up a little short,” UMass associate head coach Steve Lanpher told UMass Athletics.
Last season, UMass fell to the Colonials by double-figures 64-54. Watson had a double-double in that game scoring a team-high 16 points, while Zullo contributed with nine points and six boards.
Action gets underway at 2 p.m. on Saturday at George Washington before UMass returns home to face Rhode Island, who is ranked last in the A-10 standings, at the Mullins Center. The Minutewomen finish out the season against at Fordham and against La Salle at home again on Feb. 26. Neither of those teams is currently ranked above ninth in the A-10 standings.
Michael Counos can be reached at [email protected].
