After a close road loss to Quinnipiac Tuesday night, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team will play in the second game of a three-game stretch of away games at George Mason Thursday night.
George Mason (4-1) will head into the matchup having just beaten UNC Asheville 88-59. The Patriots’ three other wins have come against Oakland, Longwood and Stony Brook.
Perhaps GM’s biggest threat is Taleia Moton, a redshirt senior guard who leads the team with 21.6 points per game. In her last game against UNC Asheville, Moton tied her career-high in points with 30, which she set 10 days earlier in a 22-point win over Longwood. Moton also averages four rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Other players making solid contributions for the Patriots have been Amber Easter, Rahneeka Saunders and Christine Wiethman.
Easter, a Hampton, VA native, is a six-footer who can play both guard and forward positions. She is averaging 11.8 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game. In their only loss of the season to American, Easter led the team with 20 points and hauled in 12 rebounds.
Saunders, a junior Washington D.C. native, leads the team in rebounding with 7.4 per game and chips in 8.6 points per game.
Weithman, a sophomore guard out of Silver Spring, MD, averages 8.5 points per game and leads the team in both 3-pointers (nine) and 3-point percentage at (50 percent).
The Patriots defense has held their opponents to 54 points per game and a field goal percentage of 32.5 percent, while their own field goal percentage sits at 43.3 percent. They are pretty solid from beyond the arc, converting at just over 39 percent.
Much like the Minutewomen (1-5), George Mason struggles at the charity stripe, shooting just over 60 percent for the season.
Perhaps the most telling difference between the two teams statistically is the difference between the amount of turnovers each team commits. For UMass, turnovers have been a problem for throughout the season, committing 117 in their first six games. The Patriots have only turned the ball over 70 times in one less game.
In order to keep their opponents field goal percentage where it is, the Patriots will have to limit the Minutewomen’s speed and post play, which have been the focal points for the UMass offense.
Both Shakia Robinson and Jasmine Watson have provided steady production in the post, averaging 12.5 and 11.8 points per game respectively. Watson leads the team in rebounding with 8.8 per game.
While the duo have combined to give UMass strong post presence, they must limit their turnovers as they have combined to give up the ball 37 times this season.
After the game against George Mason, the Minutewomen will wait six more days to play the last of their three consecutive away games against Boston College (2-2). The Eagles will have had just come off a game against UMass’ Atlantic 10 foe, Dayton.
Eric Mansfield can be reached at [email protected].
