NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Powered by an unstoppable 25 point, 17 rebound game from senior
Carly Whiteside, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women's basketball team took an 87-80 victory over the University of Saint Joseph on Saturday. The win capped off a 2-0 weekend for the Corsairs, who advance to 9-1 at the end of the 2023 portion of their schedule. The Blue Jays slide to 10-3 after dropping two games this weekend.
It was Saint Joseph that opened up hot, jumping out to a 12-4 lead at the 5:52 mark. The Blue Jays saw eight of those points come from seniors Jordan Ouellette and Taylor Verboven. USJ ended the quarter on top, 19-13, after a quarter where the Corsairs struggled from the field.
Senior
Kaylin Zalewski cut the USJ lead in half to start the second quarter with her first three of the game. The Corsairs fought back to even the score, with Whiteside and sophomore
Tyah Pettaway finding their groove offensively. A Whiteside lay-in at the 6:04 mark evened the score at 28-28. After getting a stop on defense, Whiteside scored again to give UMass Dartmouth its first lead of the game.
The momentum had flipped in the Corsairs favor, with sophomore
Melanie DeMeo and senior
Jaelyn Lavigne adding to the scoring. Saint Joseph junior Maya Slisz caught fire near the end of the half, narrowing the UMD lead to one point with two minutes to go. Pettaway, Whiteside along with senior
Teja Andrews scored late buckets to put UMass Dartmouth back up by eight as they went into the half leading 44-36.
The Corsairs were able to add onto their lead in the third quarter. Pettaway, Whiteside and junior
Amaris Mills each scored six points in the third. Mills nailed two three-pointers in the quarter, including one that put UMass Dartmouth up by 14, their largest lead of the game. Slisz and Verboven scored a pair of baskets to cut the lead down to 10 going into the final frame.
A quick two baskets from Verboven cut Saint Joseph's deficit down to six points early in the fourth quarter. After a Slisz three-pointer cut UMD's lead down to just three, Pettaway responded in a big way with a three of her own with 7:01 remaining. Slisz scored two straight layups, bringing the Blue Jays within two points with 4:22 on the clock.
Slisz scored another pair of buckets inside the paint to give Saint Joseph their first lead since the middle of the second quarter. DeMeo scored a lay-in to tie the game back up with two minutes to go. After a defensive stop, Pettaway grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Pettaway went 2 for 2 from the line to put UMD back on top. The Corsairs got another big stop, leading to a Whiteside put-back layup that put them up 83-79 at the 1:31 mark. Lavigne and Whiteside went 4 for 4 from the free throw line down the stretch, solidifying an 87-80 win for the Corsairs.
UMass Dartmouth was paced by Whiteside's 25 points and 17 rebounds. Whiteside' s presence was felt on the defensive side as well, where she blocked three shots. Pettaway scored 16 points off the bench, while going a perfect 2 for 2 from deep and hauling in nine rebounds. Andrews recorded 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. The Corsairs won the battles for points in the paint (50-24), bench scoring (28-12), second chance points (16-12) and fast break scoring (34-28). Whiteside was named to the All-Tournament Team for her performances over the two games this weekend.
Saint Joseph was paced by a game-high 27 points from Slisz. Slisz also hauled in seven rebounds and went 2 for 3 from deep and 10 of 19 from the floor. Ouellette and Verboven had were each a rebound away from a double-double with 15 points and nine boards. Verboven led the team with six assists and shot 7 of 15 from the field. The Blue Jays won the turnover battle (12-15) and outscored the Corsairs on possessions resulting from turnovers (21-14). Slisz was USJ's All-Tournament Team selection.
The Corsairs enter the 2024 portion of the schedule with a 9-1 record through 10 games, their best start since the 2018-19 season. UMass Dartmouth returns to action on Thursday, January 4 when they travel to #4 Rhode Island College for a much anticipated battled at the top of the Little East Conference. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30PM in Providence, R.I.
