At the beginning of the season, Massachusetts women’s basketball coach Sharon Dawley knew that with a young team that likes to run in transition, there were going to be turnovers.
However, there comes a time when the turnovers start to add up and can eventually cost your team the game.
UMass had a season high 23 turnovers, including 18 in the first half that led to an 82-59 loss in the nation’s capital against American University.
“The 23 turnovers total wasn’t as bad as it looked,” Dawley said. “Eighteen in the first half, however, that’s just not what we want to see.”
Alyx Stiff buried a 3-pointer right before the final media timeout of the first half, cutting the American lead to 24-20. Momentum finally swung in the favor of the Minutewomen for the first time this season.
Like what happened in the first two games, UMass (0-3) let a close game slip away when American’s Aaron Zimmerman and Ti’Asia McGeorge hit back-to-back 3’s in the final minute of the half, capping off an 11-3 run for the Eagles to end the half.
“I thought we played really well defensively up until that final stretch in the first half,” Dawley said. “Unfortunately during that final stretch we got sucked in too deep in our help defense and simply couldn’t get out to the shooters fast enough.”
After an Emily Mital layup following a media timeout, American (2-0) finished the final 7:40 of the game on a 22-9 run, completely stopping any chances the Minutewomen had of getting back into the game.
UMass finally got help from Rashida Timbilla, who was removed from the starting lineup Sunday because of a nagging injury that she’s played with all season. Timbilla, who was the Minutewomen’s leading rebounder from a season ago, came into the game averaging, five rebounds per game, more than three rebounds fewer from a season ago.
Timbilla scored a season high 11 points to go along with six rebounds in19 minutes off the bench. It was by far her most productive game of the season.
“Rashida hasn’t been 100% healthy, but our training staff is doing a phenomenal job of working with her and getting her in a position to where she can help the team,” Dawley said.
Also performing well for UMass was Mital. Mital, who’s been struggling to get her shot going up to this point, went 5-for-6 from the field, including going 2-for-3 from behind the arc for a team-high 17 points
“[Mital] was excellent for us today,” Dawley said. “She was super aggressive in attacking the rim and set the tempo for all our guards to be aggressive, and that lead to 34 free-throw attempts today.”
The Eagles had four players in double figures, including 15 from Zimmerman and 14 from Alexis Dobbs, who also had six assists in the win. Dobbs hurt UMass the most in the first half when Nola Henry was forced to sit for the majority of the first half with two fouls.
Henry, who has been UMass’ best player to date this season, was shut down all night by American defenders. The Eagles forced Henry to commit six turnovers and held her to a season low four points.
“The turnover numbers will come down with experience,” Dawley said. “In practice we need to work on our ability to recognize when to push for the fast break and when to slow things down into a half-court set. Once we get experience with that the turnovers will definitely come down.”
The Minutewomen will host American Athletic Conference opponent Rutgers on Wednesday at 7:00pm at Mullins Center.
Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.
