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University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Set To Play Xavier In A-10 Quarterfinal Saturday At 2:00
March 04, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2005
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MASSACHUSETTS Takes On Xavier In The A-10 Quarterfinals Saturday At 2:00 PM
• Massachusetts (14-14 overall) is set to battle A-10 West co-champion Xavier (19-8) in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament Saturday at 2:00 PM.
• The Minutewomen, seeded third in the East, are coming off a 67-52 win over Duquesne in the first round yesterday afternoon.
• All five starters recorded double-figures in the win.
• The Musketeers, the second seed in the West, received a first-round bye.
• These two teams have met three times in the history of the A-10 Tournament and UMass is 1-2 in those games.
• Xavier leads the all-time series, 11-2, including the last nine games in a row.
• In their only meeting this year, Xavier pulled out a 65-55 win. The game had six ties and 10 lead changes in the second half alone. The Musketeers closed out the game on a 9-0 run as UMass did not score in the final three minutes.
• Since joining the A-10 Conference in 1983-84, the Minutewomen are 13-22 (.371) in the annual postseason tournament and have never won the championship.
• The closest UMass has come was in 1997-98 when it fell to Virginia Tech in overtime of the title game.
• The winner of this game will go on to play the winner of the Saint Joseph's and Temple game tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. in the first semifinal game on the Atlantic 10 Television Network.
Scouting Xavier
• The Musketeers finished the regular season 19-8 overall and 13-3 in league play but lost the tiebreaker to GW and that is why they ended up with a No. 2 seed despite tying the Colonials for first place in the West.
• Xavier ranks first in the league in scoring offense (67.7 ppg), fourth in scoring defense (57.1 ppg), fourth in free throw percentage (.706), third in field goal percentage (.436), fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.327), first in rebounding margin (+4.8) and third in turnover margin (+1.85).
• UMass fell at Xavier 65-55, on Feb. 13. The Minutewomen eliminated a 10-point, second-half deficit. UMass came back to take a lead and there were six ties and 10 lead changes in the second half alone, but a 9-0 run by Xavier to close out the game denied the Minutewomen the upset.
• This is the third time that UMass and Xavier have met in the A-10 Tournament. The Musketeers have won two of those games. Here is a look at those three games:
3/1/98 (semifinals) W, 49-44
2/27/99 (quarterfinals) L, 58-74
3/3/01 (quarterfinals) L, 64-86
UMass In The A-10 Tournament
• Since joining the A-10 Conference in 1983-84, the Minutewomen are 13-22 (.371) in the annual postseason tournament and have never won the championship.
• The closest UMass has come was in 1997-98 when it fell to Virginia Tech in overtime of the title game.
• UMass picked up its first A-10 Tourney win March 2, 1988, when it downed St. Bonaventure, 80-67.
• In 22 tournaments, UMass has lost in the first round 11 times.
Stepping Up The D
• On Feb. 11, Massachusetts held Dayton to 30 points en route to a 52-30 win. It was the fewest amount of points allowed by a UMass team since beating UConn, 41-28, on Jan. 30, 1975.
• It also marked the fewest point total that any A-10 foe has ever scored against the Minutewomen.
• That was the third time this year that UMass has held an opponent under 40 points. On Jan. 13, the Minutewomen held Saint Joseph's to 33 points in a 42-33 win. UMass also defeated Providence, 53-39, on Dec. 1, 2004.
• The Minutewomen currently rank first in the Atlantic 10 and 21st in the country allowing a mere 54.8 ppg.
• The Minutewomen have held each of their opponents this season to 67 or less points.
• In addition, all of its opponents have been held below their season averages.
• The Minutewomen are also first in the league and 22nd nationally in field goal percentage defense holding their opponents to a .358 clip from the field.
• UMass held three straight opponents to under 30 percent from the field. Toledo shot .299 from the field on Dec. 6, while Hofstra was .286 from the field on Dec. 9. UMass then held Siena to 24 percent shooting from the field on Dec. 12.
• Only eight of the Minutewomen's 28 opponents this season have shot better than 39 percent from the field.
• On Feb. 20, Richmond shot 40 percent from the field against UMass. The Spiders came into the game ranked 25th in the nation shooting 45 percent from the field.
Five For Fighting
• In UMass' win yesterday against Duquesne, all five starters reached double figures for the third time this season. The Minutewomen have also done it against St. Bonaventure (Feb. 6) and Hofstra (Dec. 9).
• In UMass' 69-58 win against St. Bonaventure Feb. 6, the starting five accounted for every point.
• The last time the Minutewomen had no bench points was in a 59-51 loss to George Washington on March 3, 1996, in the A-10 Semifinals.
Duquesne Recap
• Massachusetts used its three-quarter court trap defense to force Duquesne into early turnovers and was able to turn them into points. In the first four minutes of the game, the Minutewomen built up a 14-5 lead. UMass kept the pressure up and five quick points by Pam Rosanio gave it a 19-5 lead and forced Duquesne to use its second timeout of the half.
• Later in the half, Duquesne went on a 9-2 run to cut its deficit into single-digits. Aiga Bautre hit two three-pointers, but Kate Mills came right back for the Minutewomen to score two straight buckets and push the UMass lead to 12 at 36-24 with 2:20 left in the half. Duquesne closed out on a 4-2 run and UMass took a 38-28 lead into halftime. The Minutewomen shot 54 percent from the field in the first half while holding the Dukes to a 33 percent clip. UMass was also 7-for-8 from the free throw line and had five steals.
• The Minutewomen then started out the second half on a 6-0 run in 2:10 to take its largest lead of the game, 44-28, and force the Dukes to take a timeout. UMass continued the run and took a 20-point lead. Loui Hall made two free throws at the 14:45 mark to give Duquesne its first points of the half. Hall then followed up a teammates miss with a lay-up to give the Dukes their first field goal of the second half. UMass still had a 48-32 lead with 11:51 left.
• Duquesne continued to chip away and got within nine points, 56-47, with 4:11 left. The Dukes used a 19-8 run to get back into the game. On UMass' next possession, Katie Nelson hit a three-pointer with 2:29 left to give the Minutewomen a 12-point lead, 59-47. Bautre hit a three-pointer with 1:24 left to cut the UMass lead back to nine. After a Duquesne timeout, Tamara Tatham scored a lay-up after beating the press to give UMass its double-digit lead back. Nelson then added two free throws to put UMass up 13 points and exactly one minute remaining. The Dukes missed a basket and Mills scored again for UMass to seal the victory with less than 30 seconds remaining.
• Nelson led the Minutewomen with 17 points and seven assists. Mills tied a career-high with 14 points, while Rosanio added 12. Campbell and Tatham added 10 apiece. Campbell and Mills both had seven rebounds.UMass shot 52 percent for the game while Duquesne shot at a 30 percent rate from the field. Duquesne also held a slim 34-33 edge in rebounding. UMass had 17 assists on its 24 field goals as well as nine steals.
Settling Into A Starting Role
• Kate Mills earned her first start of the season Feb. 6 vs. St. Bonaventure and responded nicely with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, a blocked shot and three steals.
• She has started in all but two games since then averaging 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in those contests.
• She tied her career-high by scoring 14 points in the Minutewomen's win over Duquesne.
• For the season, Mills is averaging 6.1 ppg and 3.4 rpg. She is averaging 18.9 minutes a game and has seen action in every contest thus far.
