The Massachusetts women’s basketball team fell in heartbreaking fashion, 60-58 against Rhode Island on Wednesday night. UMass (9-10, 4-4 Atlantic 10) competed until the very end, but came up just short in the dogfight.
The Minutewomen relied on star scorer Megan Olbrys to drive towards the hoop and tie the game at 58 apiece with 16 seconds left to play. The Rams (9-11, 4-3 A-10) responded through Sophia Vital, who used a hesitation move to get inside leverage on Yahmani McKayle and finish a game-clinching layup. The bucket marked Vital’s first points of the game.
“[Vital] made a nice play there, obviously a tough finish to win it for them,” head coach Mike Leflar said. “We talked about some different ball screen coverages in the timeout and we just came up a little short in the end, but proud of our fight for sure.”
Vital’s layup was not quite a buzzer beater, as just over two ticks remained on the clock after the shot went down. UMass was out of timeouts, forcing McKayle to attempt a full-court sprint and heave. The attempt caromed back off the backboard, though it was a tad late and would not have counted regardless.
The Minutewomen struggled during periods of the first half and fell behind by as many as nine points halfway through the second quarter. The main reason for the dry spell was the absence of Olbrys, who was whistled for three fouls in the opening 12 minutes and was forced to sit for the majority of the half. Stefanie Kulesza helped fill the void with her 12 points.
“Some different people stepped up in the first half there when we were in foul trouble and it was ours for the taking,” Leflar said. “They went on a little 5-0 run in the fourth quarter when we had [the lead] at six, missed a couple layups. Obviously really proud of our effort.”
Rhode Island exceled defensively and forced its identity on the game until the floodgates opened during the final three minutes of play. The teams scored two points back-and-forth for seven consecutive possessions. The result came down to whoever had the last good look and Rams’ head coach Tammi Reiss was the one who drew up the winning play.
McKayle shot lights out down the stretch and nearly won UMass the game with her offensive prowess. The freshman invented ways to score, including a scooped layup aimed straight for the Ryan Center ceiling and a floating mid-range jumper. She shot 6-for-6 in the second half and made all five of her fourth quarter attempts.
“[McKayle’s] been terrific,” Leflar said. “I talked to her about just staying committed and I know she’s been coming off the bench, but playing such a huge role. It’s such a luxury for a coach to have that kind of production coming off the bench.”
Olbrys also stepped up in the second half after contributing just two points in the first. She scored 11 points in the second half and did a phenomenal job of drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line to slow the game down.
Rhode Island’s Harsimran Kaur was dominant at the beginning of the contest and built the cushion that the Rams eventually had to fall back on. She scored 16 points on 50 percent shooting before going scoreless in the second half. Sophie Phillips, the all-time school leader in three point shooting, topped the team in scoring with 20 points.
UMass will look to get back in the win column against VCU on Saturday, Jan. 25. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
“I thought we hung tough and I was really proud of our group and the fight that we showed,” Leflar said. “I’ll go to battle with our group anytime.”
Cameron Pellegrino can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @cam_pellegrino.