On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team gave female fans something to root for.

Winning its 12th game in a row, a program record, UMass (23-4, 13-1 Atlantic 10) upheld the intense basketball that it has been playing recently. After battling and winning against two tough opponents in the A-10 in Rhode Island and Fordham, the Minutewomen carried this same style of play into Sunday’s game against the Davidson Wildcats (12-14, 5-7 A-10).

“We didn’t want to have that celebration hangover. We didn’t want to be that team. Great teams don’t have that,” head coach Tory Verdi said.

With their pink uniforms and matching pink shoes to go with it, the Minutewomen unselfishly passed the basketball, sometimes passing three or four times to find the open player. Crafty cuts  made around the paint frequently left the Wildcats defender nowhere to be found.

With Ber’Nyah Mayo wrapping around or Sydney Taylor going back door, the open cuts rewarded UMass with maximum chances to score. This offensive effort did not go unrecognized by the 2,129 fans, a crowd that the Minutewomen are now getting used to.

“We definitely felt their energy from start to finish and we really appreciated that,” Sam Breen said. Taylor echoed a similar sentiment. “I was sitting on the bench, and I was looking all the way up, I saw people all the way up top. I’ve never seen that,” Taylor said.

It wasn’t just the average fan UMass wanted to impress, women’s basketball alumni and younger girls basketball teams were in attendance as well.

“Obviously we look up to the ones that played here before us and then hopefully we’re inspiring the younger ones to do the same,” Breen said.

Breen came to impress, scoring from all areas of the floor and grabbing another double-double against the Wildcats, her 15th of the season. She notched 22 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor wasn’t far behind with 20 points and Mayo chipped in 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting.

With players like Breen, Taylor, and Mayo, UMass’ offensive game is easily jump started, especially when shots are falling. Taylor squared up every open ball she could get and went into autopilot. Every look was shot with confidence, and if one was missed, she kept shooting.

“I feel like regardless of whether or not I’m having a good day or not, I’m always going to think, I’m going to make the next shot. That’s just kind of the mentality you have to have as a shooter, as a scorer,” Taylor said.

Offense wasn’t the only element of UMass’ game that was reflective of past contests. The intense defensive effort remained and left Davidson to throw up unwanted shots. Hedging high on screens and almost telepathic switching kept the Minutewomen’s defense in line and the Wildcats offense broken.

A quick adjustment was made early in the game on Davidson’s Elle Sutphin after she hit a few mid-range shots just inside the foul line. With Angelique Ngalakulondi and Makennah White patrolling the paint, Davidson’s offense could not take off.

“I thought we had control of the game from start to finish. We kind of got away from them, created some of that separation,” Verdi said.

All facets of the Minutewomen’s game gave the large group of alumni something to write home about.

“I told our team we wanted to play well in front of them and show them what the best team in the history of the program looks like,” Verdi said.

UMass is now left with two more games in the regular season. Off to play St. Louis on Wednesday, the Minutewomen hope to continue momentum and get a win on the road. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

Rachel Toth can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RachelToth46.