Heading into Wednesday night’s game against George Mason, Massachusetts women’s basketball coach Sharon Dawley stressed that an improved defense would lead to success for the struggling Minutewomen.
However, following a 101-73 loss at the hands of the Patriots (7-18, 1-11 Atlantic 10), UMass (3-22, 0-11 A-10) is still left searching for its first victory since Dec. 17.
Sophomore guard Taylor Brown (25 points), senior forward Janaa Pickard (25 points, 11 rebounds) and junior forward Sandra Ngoie (23 points) led George Mason’s offensive attack, which tallied 19 assists and 10 3-pointers for the game. It was the second consecutive game in which the Minutewomen allowed 10 3-point baskets on defense.
“We had three scorers that we were concerned about, and we just didn’t play good enough defense on them,” Dawley said. “We didn’t keep (Pickard) off the glass and we gave (Brown) and (Ngoie) too much room in the perimeter to get their field goals.”
In particular, junior forward Kim Pierre-Louis said that UMass’ struggles with transition defense and rebounding, especially in the second half, were what ultimately led to the Minutewomen’s 15th straight defeat.
“I think that the tempo definitely went up a bit, and we kind of found it hard to keep up with their guards in the open court. We found it pretty hard to find shooters at times when they pushed the ball, so it led to a lot of open threes for them,” Pierre-Louis said. “Also, we had trouble boxing out in the second half, so they were able to get a lot of offensive boards.”
Despite being disappointed with UMass’s defensive performance, Dawley said that she was encouraged by the team’s offensive output, which included five players scoring in double digits.
Pierre-Louis led the way with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Jasmine Harris (14 points), Nola Henry (13 points), Emily Mital (11 points) and Kiara Bomben (10 points) all contributed as well.
“We did a really good job,” Harris said. “We had multiple people score in double digits, so that was definitely a bright spot.”
Harris, who scored 10 points in the first half before being slowed by foul trouble, has now scored at least 10 points per game in seven straight games.
“Just by staying aggressive, I was able to get to the basket and hit some free throws and things like that,” Harris said.
Henry, who has struggled to score since recovering from a flu that she had in early January, reached double figures for the first time since Dec. 30 against Dartmouth.
“I thought Nola played pretty well tonight; I thought Kiara had some great hustle plays; Jasmine Harris overall played a good game and Kim had some good buckets down low,” Dawley said of UMass’s overall offensive performance.
Looking ahead, the Minutewomen’s search for their first conference win of the season will not get any easier, as UMass will head next to the nation’s capital on Saturday to take on George Washington.
Anthony Chiusano can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.
