On Wednesday night, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team faced an uphill battle against Fordham as the Minutewomen (21-5, 9-3 Atlantic 10) dug themselves into a hole early on.
UMass struggled shooting the ball in the first half, going 11-36 from the field in the first two periods. On the defensive end the Minutewomen had no answer for the Rams’ (16-7, 7-4 A-10) Kendell Heremaia who seemingly couldn’t miss from the 3-point line. Heremaia shot 7-9 from beyond the arc in the first half en route to a 35 point, 11 rebound performance.
Heremaia’s performance came as a bit surprise as entering Wednesday’s contest she was only shooting 26.6 percent from 3-point range. However, tonight Heremaia shot 11-19 from deep and was 3 triples shy of tying the NCAA single-game 3-point record that was set by Baylor ‘s Juicy Landrum in 2019.
“What can you say, [Heremaia] was unconscious, she was shooting everything with a hand in her face,” UMass coach Tory Verdi said. “So that gave [Fordham] a lot of confidence right from the get-go.”
With 4:06 to go in the second period UMass’s starting point guard Destiny Philoxy suffered an apparent ankle injury, but it did not prevent her from returning to action. Philoxy received her usual minutes as she finished the game with 36.
“[Philoxy] said I’m good, I’m good and I alright I’ll give you a little breather, but that’s her,” Verdi said of Philoxy battling through the injury.
“She’s tough, she’s a veteran, she’s been here before, she wants this”
Despite the challenges that UMass faced in the first half, the second half saw the Minutewomen slowly claw their way back into the game. After Sydney Taylor hit a 3-pointer to close out the third quarter UMass trailed by eight heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter saw the Minutewomen cut into the lead even more as Philoxy got her shot going. Early on in the quarter Philoxy got inside for a lefty layup and then knocked down a corner three.
With 7:12 to go, UMass took its first lead of the game since 5:27 in the first quarter off a Taylor layup.
UMass did not relinquish its lead and would hold on down the stretch as Fordham could not buy a basket in the fourth as it shot 2-21 in the last quarter.
“I challenged the team at halftime, we weren’t making winning plays, [Fordham] was,” said Verdi. “It was great to see some of our players step up.”
For the Minutewomen, turning the tides of a game when another team seems to have control is something they have done throughout the season. Earlier on this season when UMass faced off against Iowa State they entered into halftime with an 18-point deficit, but only lost the game by five.
Against Boston College, UMass trailed by as much as 18 in the third quarter but fought its way back and lost 66-60.
Even though these aforementioned games are losses, UMass has shown the ability to find ways to get back into games against quality opponents. Iowa State currently is ranked No. 6 in the country and holds a 21-4 record. Boston College holds a 16-9 record. Wednesday the Minutewomen’s effort paid off and UMass emerged victorious with its 21st win of the year which is a program record.
“When you get a group of players together that all believe in one another anything is possible,” Verdi said. “We showed that here today.”
The Minutewomen will look to push their win streak to seven straight as they hit the road to face off against Davidson. Tipoff is set for this Sunday at 12 p.m.
James DiLuca can be reached at [email protected].
