Though it completed an inspiring 14-0 scoring run to come within three points of the lead, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team could not pull itself any closer than that, as it lost to La Salle, 81-67, at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday night.

The Minutewomen (6-17, 1-7 Atlantic 10) never carried a lead against the Explorers (11-12, 5-3 A-10) and trailed by double-digits at multiple points throughout the game. However, UMass did complete several different offensive aspects of the game that it had been lacking through the past few games.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” said UMass coach Sharon Dawley in an interview with UMassAthletics.com. “We ran the ball pretty well, and I thought our bench was really good, [especially considering] our need for more depth, and I thought that [freshman forward] Aisha [Rodney] and [redshirt freshman center] Millie [Niggeling] were great and were pretty much the big pieces of that comeback.”

The Minutewomen scored 18 points off the bench, an impressive stat considering the struggles that UMass has had in sustaining any offensive scoring runs with bench players throughout the majority of the season. Also impressive was how the Minutewomen scored 46 points in the paint compared to the Explorers’ 26, and how they outscored the Explorers 11-8 on second chance points.

“But we all need to do a better job on the defensive end,” said Dawley. “We just gave up too many points and we gave shooters too much room. I am disappointed in the fact that we did not execute defensively.”

Overall, UMass gave up 29 points off of turnovers to La Salle, while the Explorers only allowed the Minutewomen to score 14 points off turnovers.

In the first half, La Salle came out of the gate scoring and did not let off on its offensive pressure, as the Explorers led UMass, 37-26, at halftime.

Once the second half was under way, it was more of the same for the first few opening minutes. La Salle widened the lead to 45-28, its largest lead of the game, when the Minutewomen exploded offensively with their 14-0 run, pulling to within three points of the lead.

Unfortunately for UMass, the Explorers stood strong in the face of their opponents’ success and continued to score in pace with the Minutewomen for the remainder of the game. Though La Salle narrowly edged out UMass, 44-41, in the second half, a strong first half once again proved to be the downfall for the Minutewomen.

“I thought that, after the comeback, we just gave up too many open shots, and that just squashed the comeback,” said Dawley. “We definitely have to protect the ball a lot better. We were great at Charlotte with only 15 turnovers, but now today we had 25. There were too many unforced turnovers in the half court, and that is going to beat us.”

Junior forward Shakia Robinson led the Minutewomen in scoring by shooting 8-for-16 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line for 17 points. Jasmine Watson was the only other player from UMass to score double-digits, as she scored 10 points by going 5-for-8.

Overall, the Minutewomen shot 30-for-64 (46.9 percent) from the floor, 4-for-15 from beyond the arc (26.7 percent) and completed 3-for-5 (60 percent) attempts from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Explorers shot 28-for-55 (50.9 percent) from the floor and 8-for-24 from 3-point range, while also going an impressive 17-for-20 (85 percent) from the free throw line.

UMass will be back in action again on Wednesday evening as the Minutewomen take on St. Bonaventure at the Mullins Center at 5 p.m.

David Martin can be reached at [email protected].