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Contest With Holy Cross Up Next For Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2012
The Last Meeting
November 22, 2011
Worcester, Mass.
Upcoming Promotion: Family Night
Scouting Holy Cross Women's Basketball Alex Smith paces the offense through four games, notching 15.5 points per contest on 24-for-62 shooting from the field (38.7%). Four Crusaders stand in double-figures for scoring overall, with Emily Parker (12.0), Brisje Malone (11.3) and Christine Ganser (10.5) also 10 points per game on average. Ganser leads the team in rebounds, average seven per game while Parker stands at 5.8 boards per contest and Smith and Raquel Scott average 4.3 in each game. Overall, Holy Cross is shooting 44.3 percent from the field (102-of-230) while the Crusaders have struggled from behind the arc, only knocking down 16 threes in 55 attempts for a 29.1 three-point field goal percentage. The opposition has outscored Holy Cross, 72.5-to-66.5 overall; however, the Crusaders have won the battle of the boards, accumulating 34.2 rebounds per game while giving up 32.0 to their foes.
Last Time Against The Crusaders Aisha Rodney paced UMass with her first double-figure scoring performance of her career with 15 points to go along with seven rebounds and three steals. Megan Zullo followed with 14 points and registered four assists and three steals. Mital finished with 10 points, her first time in double figures with the Minutewomen, while Jasmine Watson added 10 points and seven rebounds. Emilie Teuscher corralled a team-best 10 boards, a new career high, while Carolann Cloutier dished five assists. The first half was tightly-played as the two teams were separated by no more than four for the majority of the period until a layup by Brisje Malone with 2:44 remaining kick-started an 8-0 run for Holy Cross. Christine Ganser's basket at 1:36 gave the Crusaders their largest lead of the period, 34-26. The Minutewomen responded with five straight points, a three from Zullo and a bucket by Kim Pierre-Louis to cut the deficit to 34-31 before Ganser hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to expand the advantage back out to five. Holy Cross came out of the intermission with a 6-2 run to stretch its advantage to nine, 42-33, with 18:30 to play. Later Meredith Ward gave the Crusaders their first double-digit lead, 58-48, at the 9:24 mark. With 6:44 left, a jumper by Cloutier began an 11-4 run for the Minutewomen that was capped off with Mital's trey at 1:31. However, Holy Cross hit six free throws down the stretch to help preserve the win and finished the evening 21-for-22 (95.5%) at the charity stripe. UMass shot 41.3% (26-for-63) from the field in the contest and made 5-of-18 (27.8%) from beyond the arc, while converting 7-of-11 (63.6%) free throws. Holy Cross shot 26-for-62 (41.9%) overall and 3-for-15 (20.0%) from three and out-rebounded the Minutewomen, 44-31. Amy Lepley's 15 points led the Crusaders' four players in double figures followed by Ward and Alex Smith's 14 apiece, while Malone and Gansler each added 10. Ward completed her double-double with a game-best 14 rebounds, while Gansler grabbed nine boards and Malone had five assists and four steals.
Last Time Out: Minutewomen Suffer 71-65 Setback To Hartford With five lead changes, the first half featured short scoring runs for both teams over the opening 14:15 of play, with neither squad able to build a lead larger than six points during the span. The Minutewomen earned their largest advantage of the opening stanza at 15-11 with 11:45 remaining. After Alyssa Englert knotted the game at 11-11 with a three-pointer, freshman guard Jasmine Harris matched Englert on the other end of the court to push the Minutewomen in front, 14-11. UMass (1-4 overall) forced a Shanise Bultron turnover on the ensuing Hartford possession and sophomore forward Aisha Rodney knocked down 1-of-2 free throws after being fouled for the 15-11 advantage. However, Hartford (5-0) rallied with 6-0 run to stake the Hawks to a 20-15 lead at the 9:20 mark and outpaced the Minutewomen, 26-11 over the remainder of the stanza to earn the 37-26 halftime score. UMass used an accurate shooting performance to pull with two points of tying Hartford during the second half, hitting 11 of their first 19 field goals of the stanza. Watson, Mital spearheaded the attack, recording nine and eight points, respectively, during the span. With the Minutewomen trailing, 56-46 and 9:41 remaining, UMass used a 9-2 run to pull within one basket of Hartford. Watson made it 56-48 on a layup before Mital drained a three-pointer at the 7:45 mark to cut the deficit to five. Timbilla followed with four of the next five points, including a jumper and a pair of made free throws, to cut the Hawks lead to 57-55. UMass was unable to even the contest over the final seven minutes of play, dropping the Hartford lead to four on Mital's four three-point field goal with 33 seconds remaining. UMass forced the Hawks to the line during the final half-minute, with Hartford connecting on 4-of-6 from the charity stripe to earn the victory. The Minutewomen shot 43.9 percent from the field (25-of-57) and hit 5-of-13 three-point attempts. Hartford finished 22-for-53 (41.5 pct.) on field goal attempts, only hitting 2-of-12 from behind the arc (16.7 pct.). Katie Roth led Hartford with 17 points while Smith and Alex Hall also reached double-digits, with 11 and 10, respectively.
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 eight games as a starter, Mital has made the most of her opportunities, averaging 10.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per-game while shooting 30-for-67 (44.8 pct) from the field, including 18-for-36 (50.0 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.
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
Coming From Near And Far 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 Watson), 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. Five games into her fourth season at UMass, Watson has totaled 1,064 career points (12.4 ppg), 599 rebounds (7.0 rpg) and 135 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 stuffs 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.
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.
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Freshman Emily Mital hit a long-range three to cut the deficit to four with 1:31 remaining, however Holy Cross made its free throws down the stretch to hold off the UMass women's basketball team, 76-64, in the Hart Center on Tuesday evening. The setback leaves the Minutewomen at 1-3 on the year, while the Crusaders improve to 2-3.
