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Minutewomen Ready For Contest With Quinnipiac
Nov. 15, 2012
Upcoming Promotion: Family Night Scouting Quinnipiac Women's Basketball Now-senior Felicia Barron led the squad with 16.5 points per game last year while earning 133 steals, 74 assists and 72 rebounds. As a freshman, Jasmine Martin added 11.2 points in each of her 31 appearances off the bench while pulling down 3.4 boards per game. Then-sophomore Brittany McQuain was the final Wildcat to average double-digits in scoring per contest (10.6), leading the team with 9.5 rebounds per game while contributing 52 steals, 46 assists and 26 blocks. After falling to Monmouth in the NEC Tournament, Quinnipiac received a bid to the women's NIT, falling to A-10 opponent Temple in the first round, 75-60 to end the 2011-12 season. The series between the squads is tied at 1-1, with the Bobcats earning the victory a year ago while UMass won a neutral site meeting during the 2009-10 season. Last Time Against The Bobcats Jasmine Watson paced UMass with a season-high 18 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while senior Emilie Teuscher chipped in 12 points, including nine in the second half. Kim Pierre-Louis reached double figures for the first time in her collegiate career with 11 points and Carolann Cloutier followed with 10 points, also totaling six boards. Aisha Rodney dished a team-best four assists and added seven points. In a tightly-played first half, that featured four ties and six lead changes, UMass and Quinnipiac were separated by three points or less for the majority of the period. At the end of the first, Kari Goodchild split on a trip to the line and Megan Zullo hit a jumper in the closing seconds to bring the score to 34-31, Minutewomen, at the intermission. UMass made its biggest run midway through the second half. With Quinnipiac holding a 49-47 edge with 10:46 remaining, the Minutewomen scored 10 straight points, aided by a pair of threes from Emilie Teuscher to build a 57-49 lead. The Bobcats countered, though, with an 11-2 stretch to regain a one-point lead at the 5:02 mark. Following a layup by Watson at 4:11 that briefly put UMass back on top by one, Quinnipiac scored the next five points to increase the margin to 65-61. Pierre-Louis hit a clutch layup with 1:32 to go to bring the Minutewomen within two, but Quinnipiac came up with a defensive stop on UMass' final possession. The Minutewomen shot a season-high 46% (23-50) in the contest and were 5-for-11 (45.5%) from beyond the arc and 12-for-18 (66.7%) at the free throw line. The Bobcats shot 23-for-74 (31.1%) overall, 4-for-18 (22.2%) from three and made 16-of-28 (57.1%) at the charity stripe. Brittany McQuain led Quinnipiac with a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds. Warner followed with 13 points, eight boards and four assists, Jasmine Martin totaled 11 points and Felicia Barron grabbed five steals. Last Time Out: UMass Drops 78-79 Decision At Central Connecticut During the contest, Mital also notched career-bests with eight made field goals, including six three-pointers. Mital's total from behind the arc lands the sophomore tied for fifth all-time for single-game three-pointers made, one shy of equaling the program record, matched most recently by Megan Zullo at Duquesne on Jan. 25, 2012. Senior center Jasmine Watson recorded her 14th career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to go with five blocks, three steals and two assists. Freshman forward Rashida Timbilla pulled down 10 rebounds for the second consecutive contest, also chipping in six points on 3-for-5 shooting to go with four steals. UMass (1-1) was without Watson's support for more than 18 minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, while the Blue Devils broke through over the second portion of the stanza to secure a 10-point lead at halftime. After Mital's second three-point of the game gave UMass its 14-13 lead, CCSU outscored the Minutewomen, 19-8 during the final 12:38 of the half to take a 32-22 advantage into the break. The back-and-forth trend to the game continued in the final half, as UMass outscored Central Connecticut, 24-7 over the opening 7:56 to earn its largest lead, 46-39 at 12:04 on a Watson free throw. However, after Watson hit the back-end of a pair of attempts from the charity stripe to put UMass up by seven, CCSU clawed back into the contest during the following nine minutes to retake the lead for good, 59-57 on a Jaclyn Babe layup. Babe led all scorers with 36 points while teammates Kaley Watras and Kirsten Daamen tallied 16 and 10, respectively. After Watras added a three-pointer on the following Blue Devils possession, the Minutewomen were unable to pull closer than within four points in the final minutes. Timbilla shrunk the deficit to 64-60 with 1:34 remaining to play; however. CCSU used late free throws to extend the points margin and secure the win. Freshman guard Nola Henry totaled nine points on 4-of-8 shooting with a free throw to go with four assists while senior guard Dee Montgomery finished with a team-high five helpers while making both field goal attempts and a free throw for five points before fouling out with 6:02 remaining in the game. Through two games, Montgomery owns a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio with 16 helpers against only five turnovers. UMass Routs Kent State, 83-53 In Season-Opener Watson, who went 8-for-11 from the floor in her 10th career 20-point game, also chipped in with eight rebounds, four blocks, four steals and three assists in 31 minutes on the floor. Sophomore Emily Mital followed with a career-best 16 points and was aided by a 4-for-6 afternoon from beyond the arc. In their debuts as Minutewomen, redshirt junior Kiara Bomben and freshman Rashida Timbilla both reached double figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Timbilla also hauled in 10 boards to complete her double-double, including five on the offensive glass. Bomben snagged four steals and senior Dee Montgomery dished a career-best 11 assists, her second with 10 or more helpers. All 14 UMass players who dressed for the contest saw action with 11 draining buckets in the Minutewomen's highest scoring output since Nov. 28, 2010 at East Carolina. Redshirt sophomore Millie Niggeling paced the UMass bench with seven points, shooting a perfect 3-for-3 on the day. The Minutewomen maintained the double-digit cushion following the intermission as Kent State could draw no closer than 13 the rest of the way. UMass led by 32 with 2:05 remaining, it's largest advantage of the day. Watson Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Watson finished the contest against the Golden Flashes with a team-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor and a 5-for-8 day at the free throw line. Watson also tallied eight rebounds while adding four blocks and four steals to the winning effort. Watson Tallies 1,000 Career Point Using her 10th collegiate game of 20 or more points, Watson became just the 18th member to the illustrious club and now stands 14 points from overtaking Beth Wilbor (1985-89) for 17th in career scoring. Timbilla Nets Double-Double In First Collegiate Game Bomben, Montgomery and Watson Named 2012-13 Team Captains Watson enters her senior season looking to become the 18th member of the Minutewomen's 1,000-points club, starting the year just 20 points shy of the 1,000-mark. Montgomery is also set to use her experience to guide the Minutewomen as a senior, beginning the campaign with 72 appearances and 22 starts. Bomben will be seeing her first minutes at UMass as a redshirt-junior after spending the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons at Florida Gulf Coast University. Mital's Emergence In her six games as a starter, Mital has made the most of her opportunities, averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per-game while shooting 23-for-49 (46.9 pct) from the field, including 12-for-23 (52.2 pct) from behind the arc. On three occasions, Mital has reset her single-game career-high in points scored during the span of starts. The sophomore guard produced 11 points against Rhode Island on Feb. 22, 2012 as a freshman before notching another personal best with 16 against Kent State during UMass' 2012-13 season-opener on Nov. 10. Mital followed with a 22-point outburst at Central Connecticut on Nov. 13, shooting 8-for-13 from the floor, including 6-for-10 from behind the arc, to add her first 20-point performance with the Minutewomen. Mital's six three-pointers ties the sophomore for fifth-most in a single contest in program history, only one shy of equaling the program mark of seven most recently achieved by Megan Zullo against Duquesne on Jan. 25, 2012. Program Earns 500th Win At Siena To secure the decision, four Minutewomen earned double-figures, including 14 points each from Emilie Teuscher and Megan Zullo. Now-senior Jasmine Watson contributed a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards while current-redshirt-junior Carolann Cloutier added 10 points and four assists. Coming From Near And Far Millie Niggeling is the first women's basketball student-athlete in program history from Iowa, while Canada is represented by three Minutewomen; Kim Pierre-Louis (Ontario), Carolann Cloutier (Quebec) and Rashida Timbilla (Ontario) and Kiara Bomben originally hails from Australia. Jasmine Harris, Adriana Jordan and Aisha Rodney represent Michigan while two players are from within the Massachusetts borders in Amber Dillon and Victoria Stewart. UMass also has one student-athlete each from Indiana (Jasmine Harris), New Jersey (Nola Henry), Ohio (Ronni Grandison), Tennessee (Dee Montgomery) and Texas (Emily Mital). All That Jas Watson played in and started all 29 UMass contests as a junior and paced the Minutewomen with 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds during the 2011-12 campaign. Watson recorded a team-best 48 blocks, hit 49.0 percent of her field goal attempts (141-of-288) and averaged 28.7 minutes played per game. Watson scored double-digits in points in 21 games in 2011-12, including reaching double-double status in four contests. The South Bend, Ind., native also led UMass in rebounding on 15 occasions. Two games into her fourth season at UMass, Watson has totaled 1,017 career points (12.3 ppg), 575 rebounds (6.9 rpg) and 132 blocks (1.6 bpg). Watson, the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, is currently fifth on the program's all-time list for career blocks and ranks third in blocked shots per game. New Minutewomen Faces Bomben transferred to UMass prior to the 2011-12 season and was required to sit out the campaign as per NCAA policy. The Australia native spent her first two seasons with Florida Gulf Coast before transferring and will be looked upon as a leader on an off the floor in 2012-13 as Bomben was named a captain with seniors Dee Montgomery and Jasmine Watson. The five 2012-13 true-freshman are Nola Henry, Jasmine Harris, Adriana Jordan, Victoria Stewart and Rashida Timbilla. Henry started at point guard for Trenton Catholic (N.J.) during the squad's run to the NJSIAA Non-Public 8 Championship in 2010-11 while Harris averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds for North Farmington (Mich.) as a senior in 2011-12. Jordan was twice named an all-state recipient at Port Huron (Mich.) and won the Nike National Championship with the U-15 Motor City Suns. Stewart is a local product, hailing from Amherst, and was named a Franklin-Hampshire County All-Star and Daily Hampshire Gazette First Team honor at Amherst-Pelham Regional. Timbilla played one year for prep school Northfield Mount Hermon (Mass.) after attending John McCrae Secondary in Ontario, where she average more than 20 points and 14 rebounds per game in 2010-11. Women's Basketball Radio Show On WMUA Octavia Thomas Selected To UMass Hall Of Fame The No. 2 scorer in program history, Thomas was a major force in the program's resurgence in the mid-1990's. During her career from 1993-1996, Thomas helped turn a program that had won nine total games in the previous three seasons into one that made the WNIT and the NCAA tournaments during her junior and senior campaigns.
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