DARTMOUTH, Mass. - The No. 3 seed University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women's basketball team began the 2022 Little East Conference (LEC) Tournament with a bang, blowing out No. 6 seed UMass Boston, 91-51, Tuesday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.
The Corsairs improve to 19-7 and complete the three-game season sweep over the Beacons (8-15), with a margin of victory of 29.6 points. Every available member of the team scored at least two points. Senior
Jordan Moretti led the way, picking up 19 points with four assists and four steals, while sophomore
Kaylin Zalewski had 14 points and four assists off the bench, and classmate
Teja Andrews finished with 14 points and five rebounds.
Senior Meg Dixon tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds for UMass Boston.
UMass Dartmouth had the game in control from the jump. A pair of layups from senior
Shaelyn Carreiro, a triple by 5th-year senior
Meagan Donovan and a Moretti bucket helped the Corsairs take a 10-0 lead at the 6:29 mark of the first. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Dixon and a free throw cut the Beacon deficit to 10-7, but UMassD closed the quarter on a 9-5 run. An and-1 by senior
Caroline Wilson and a basket from junior
Haley Reinold helped make it a 19-12 advantage after one.
Andrews, Moretti and Zalewski scored all but two Corsair points in the second. Andrews made a pair of layups and Moretti connected on a jumper to make it 25-12 with 7:31 on the clock. Zalewski then sunk a jumper and cashed home a 3-ball. Andrews kept it going by scoring eight more points to give her 12 for the quarter. Senior
Jessica Carroll also contributed to boost the lead to 46-24 at the half.
The Corsairs continued to blow the doors open in the third. Wilson drained a triple to extend the lead to 30 points, 55-25, with 6:53 left in the quarter. Zalewski hit another from beyond the arc, and Moretti converted on an and-1, to make it 67-34 with 2:56 to go. Sophomore
Faye Veilleux chipped in the final four points of the fourth to bring the score to 73-39 heading to the fourth.
Zalewski started the fourth with a three. Sophomores
Jemima Joseph and
Isabella Graziano, freshmen
Nicolette D'Itria and
Sydney Pavao, and sophomore
Jaelyn Lavigne kept it rolling in the final quarter, as the Corsairs ran away with it.
UMass Dartmouth travels to No. 2 seeded Eastern Connecticut State for its semifinal matchup at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
