Three days after the Massachusetts women’s basketball team failed to score more than 60 points against Boston College, UMass achieved a commanding 87-75 win over Columbia in enemy territory.
Angelique Ngalakulondi recorded a season-high 14 rebounds to go along with 13 points in 25 minutes of action. Of those 14 boards, 11 were offensive. On the season, she averages 4.4 offensive rebounds and 2.9 defensive rebounds.
“There’s a reason why we had the lead of 20 at halftime,” head coach Tory Verdi said. “Because [Ngalakulondi] was cleaning up the boards. Her ability to find the ball and get put backs for us. It gives us a lot of confidence. I thought her performance was unreal.”
Going into Saturday’s game, UMass (10-2) led the nation in total rebounds with 440. Against the Lions (8-3), UMass snagged 46 boards and outrebounded them by 13.
Ngalakulondi inspired her teammates to crash the boards as well. The frontcourt pair of Ber’Nyah Mayo and Philoxy counted for 10 rebounds, while Sydney Taylor had a season-high nine rebounds.
“It was a collective effort,” Verdi said. “When our guards are rebounding the basketball for us. Our whole goal in this thing was to limit them to being one and done. When we did that we turned those into points… Overall, our ability to rebound collectively was pretty good here today.”
Defensively, Ngalakulondi shined. Her brooding presence was a nightmare for Columbia but provided a major confidence boost for UMass. She had two blocks and intimidated attackers away from the paint. Her efforts allowed the Lions only 34 points in the paint and forced them to look elsewhere for its offense. When Columbia’s 3-point shot wasn’t falling, UMass had complete control of the game.
Ngalakulondi’s contributions on the defensive end are not coming out of nowhere, though, as she has amassed two or more blocks in four of her last six games. Her season-high mark of four blocks came against Kent State in the semi-finals of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
The trust Ngalakulondi has earned from her teammates is evident by their confidence in shooting the ball. She was a major reason why UMass had 22 second chance points to the Lions’ nine.
After not seeing the court against Boston College, Makennah White tallied 12 points across sixteen minutes of playing time on Saturday and turned in a very compelling performance. Ngalakulondi started the last two games in place of White but on Saturday, the two post players managed to split the wealth in multiple categories. White shot a very solid 6-of-7 from the field and was the team’s only source of points off the bench, an area they struggled in against BC.
“[White] was phenomenal,” Verdi said. “Her ability to duck in and seal and then go one-on-one and score it. She did a great job not only scoring the ball but rebounding the ball for us. And we need that from her.”
Ngalakulondi’s rebounding performance allowed UMass to have a balanced attack. The offense ran like a well-oiled machine, with six players scoring in double-digits. Ngalakulondi snagged her third double double of the season.
Ngalakulondi and the Minutewomen will return to the Mullins Center next Sunday when they host the University of Vermont at 3:30 p.m.
Michael Araujo can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @araujo_michael_.
