The Massachusetts women’s basketball team suffered a tough defeat to Boston College Wednesday night, 95-57. The Minutewomen (1-9) stayed in the game in the first half but a strong second half from the Eagles (5-5) buried UMass.
At half, the Minutewomen were down 41-28 after a late 3-pointer secured momentum for Boston College. The Eagles came out flying and outscored UMass 32-15 in the third quarter keeping the Minutwomen out of it.
“I thought we played a competitive first half and a really good second quarter and we were in the game … BC took it right to us those first couple of minutes [in the third quarter] and we couldn’t respond,” head coach Mike Leflar said.
Positive notes for UMass include freshman Lilly Taulelei who flourished with her third straight double-digit performance, 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Taulelei was shooting 48 percent from the field entering the contest. Jermany Mapp added a career high 14 points while Stefanie Kulesza added 11 points and seven rebounds.
“[Taulelei’s] production speaks for itself, and she’s just been so coachable and a real sponge at practice … she’s all in on this experience and I’m just so excited for her to see the individual results,” Leflar said.
Paving the way for The Eagles was a barrage of double-digit scorers led by Teya Sidberry with a career high 22 points on 70 percent shooting. T’yana Todd and Andrea Daley each had 17 points, Dontavia Waggoner had 15 and JoJo Lacey had 11. Boston College shot nearly 56 percent from the field and nearly 53 percent from 3.
“That was a tough one for us. Just a couple of keys. Transition defense has been a theme for us the past couple weeks. [We’re] working on it and improving it,” Leflar said, “I thought we felt and looked really defeated and, for me, that was a little bit disappointing.”
UMass now has just three games remaining in the month of December with 10 day gaps between each of the games giving more time to practice.
“November was a blur for us. For a team that probably needs more practice time than games, we didn’t have it in November,” Leflar said. “I’m looking forward to the practice time these next couple of days and couple of weeks. For us, it’s just continuing to take steps in the right direction.”
The Minutewomen return home after their six-game road trip to face UMass Lowell in a rivalry game at the Mullins Center Sunday, Dec. 10, with tip-off slated for 12 p.m.
“Excited to be back home. It’s been so long. I can’t remember a year where we’ve had so many away games consecutively early in the season so I’m excited,” Leflar said. “I’m sure our team is excited to get that back home and play in the Mullins Center and practice in the Champions Center, sleeping in their own beds. I expect that to give us a boost.”
Owen Shelffo can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @owen_shelffo.
