With just four games remaining before the close of the season, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team finds itself in a fight to keep from finishing at the wrong end of the Atlantic 10 standings.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, only Rhode Island has a worse conference record at 0-10. For UMass (6-19, 1-9 A-10), it has done themselves no favors by struggling to protect the ball on offense. Over the season, the Minutewomen have lost 475 possessions to their opponents, while only collecting 354 of their own.
UMass is averaging 19 turnovers per game compared to their opponents’ 14.2, leaving the Minutewomen’s opponents with five extra possessions per game. Such a wide discrepancy can lead to the lopsided scores that have plagued UMass this season.
The turnover numbers are a statistic that has not gone unnoticed by the staff, according to UMass coach Sharon Dawley.
“We’ve made progress,” said Dawley. “We’ve had to work hard to get this point.”
Against Temple, the Minutewomen took a step back in that effort, losing the ball 23 times which led to 29 points for the Owls. In a game that saw Temple go on to win by a margin of 27 points, it is easy to point a finger at the turnover stats.
Turnovers dug UMass into a hole against Charlotte, as well. The 49ers were able to produce 18 points off of the 15 turnovers they forced, which nearly covered the deficit of the 80-58 score.
Over its current eight-game losing streak, the Minutewomen’s opponents have averaged 20 points off of turnovers. In those games, the margin of victory has been an average of 17.25 points per game. UMass has been averaging almost half the number of takeaways that their opponents produce at 10.5 points per game. If they were able to keep their own turnover numbers down, the Minutewomen could find themselves in a more manageable game, such as against Fordham.
When the Rams visited the Mullins Center on Jan. 28, UMass was able to contain them to 13 points off of turnovers, while collecting 13 points of its own from their opponents lost possessions. As a result, the Minutewomen were able to stick around the whole game, only losing on a buzzer beater.
Against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 8, however, UMass was able to keep turnovers down — committing just eight — but were still outscored 15-9 in points off turnovers by the nationally ranked and conference leading Bonnies. Eventually the score reflected St. Bonaventure’s ability to convert on the Minutewomen’s mistakes, as it was able to pull out the win over UMass.
Sophomore Carolann Cloutier and top-scorer junior Shakia Robinson have been the biggest perpetrators of the turnover problems, losing 99 and 89, respectively. The pair, along with the typically sure-handed Emilie Teuscher, combined for 12 in the matchup with Temple.
The fight to stay out of the bottom spot begins with ball security and in Saint Louis this afternoon at 1 p.m., before returning home for two consecutive home games.
Jeffrey Okerman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Okerman.
