After losing the first game of the season, Massachusetts women’s basketball coach Tory Verdi wanted his team to take higher percentage shots. The Minutewomen executed his plan to perfection Monday night, outscoring North Dakota State 46-14 in the paint in their 70-58 victory at Mullins Center.
“Going into the game, we knew we wanted to attack the basket. We wanted to be really aggressive. Getting to the rim is a high percentage shot. It’s what we wanted to do tonight,” Verdi said. “We knew we could beat them off the dribble tonight and our players did a really good job with that. I’m really happy with their focus.”
UMass (1-1) refused to settle for outside shots as it did in season opener against Buffalo. After taking 16 3-pointers against the Bulls, the Minutewomen took only eight Monday, opting to attack the basket instead. This strategy proved to be successful, as they shot 45.8 percent from the field against the Bison.
“Our first key of the game was to attack downhill for 40 minutes,” freshmen Hailey Leidel said, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
UMass jumped out to a 24-7 lead at the end of the first quarter on 55 percent shooting. NDSU had no answer for the Minutewomen’s height down low, as the 6-foot-2-inch Maggie Mulligan was able to get easy shots early, scoring seven of the teams first nine points. The Bison (1-1), who started out in man-to-man defense, were forced to go to a packed in zone in an effort to slow down UMass in the paint.
“Regardless of what defense they’re in, we had to attack the gaps,” Verdi said. “I thought we did a really nice job of flashing to the open areas and attacking the open area and getting high percentage shots.
Due to injuries, the Minutewomen have an extremely short bench, and only brought in one reserve throughout the game. Despite this, UMass got easy baskets in the transition game, outscoring the Bison 14-2 in fast-break points. Verdi understands that his team doesn’t have the bench depth to run consistently, but still hopes his team pushes the ball up court after defensive rebounds.
“When you have only six players, you have to manage that. But, those are high percentage shots, so when the opportunity presents itself, you have to take advantage of that,” Verdi said.
Leidel, who played every minute of the game, knows the Minutemen will have to keep pushing through until players return from injury. Even still, she feels the team needs to keep running the court to get open shots.
“I think it’s kind of a mindset that you have to do that,” Leidel said of the tempo. “We know we don’t have numbers, but we’ve been conditioning a lot. At this point, you just have to go out and do it anyways.”
With its constant attack on the rim, UMass got to the free throw line at a consistent basis, shooting 21 free throws in the game, and converted 15 of them line. Leidel led the team with eight free throw attempts.
The Minutewomen didn’t just dominate the paint offensively, they also protected it on the defensive end as well. They forced NDSU to take 29 3-pointers on the game, in which they only made nine.
Thomas Johnston can be reached at [email protected]
