DANBURY, Conn. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women's basketball team bested Western Connecticut State University on the road, 87-52, in a Little East Conference tilt to pick up their sixth straight league win of the season. Corsairs now own a 7-0 LEC record and a 13-2 overall record while the Wolves dropped to 2-6 in conference action.
Junior
Melanie DeMeo sank an early three-pointer for UMass Dartmouth off the feed from graduate student captain
Teja Andrews to give the Corsairs a 5-3 edge in the opening minute of play. Senior
Amaris Mills then posted her first five points of the game highlighted by a triple to put UMass Dartmouth ahead 12-3 with 7:18 on the clock. The Wolves continued to battle and soon cut the Corsairs lead down to four points after Nia Rencher banked in a jumper to make it 14-10. After graduate student
Jane McCauley drained a triple for her first three points of the afternoon, Corsairs added on five more points to take a 24-16 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Western Connecticut State opened the second quarter with a 6-2 run to narrow UMass Dartmouth's lead to 26-22. Graduate student
Carly Whiteside responded for the Corsairs scoring eight of the next 10 points featuring an and-one play and a triple to extend UMass Dartmouth's advantage to 36-22. The squad capitalized on their momentum as Andrews finished a driving layup followed by another three-pointer for Mills to claim a 19-point lead over the Wolves. UMass Dartmouth went 3-for-4 from the line along with a late basket from Andrews to take a 47-27 lead heading into halftime.
After a quite start to the third, Whiteside made a layup off the assist from fifth year captain
Jaelyn Lavigne top open the scoring in the second half. Malaysia Dingle clipped in a long range shot for the Wolves to make it 51-32 but Whiteside immediately answered for the Corsairs by finishing an and-one play. She tacked on four more points to surpass 20-plus points in the contest and give UMass Dartmouth a commanding 24-point advantage approaching the last three minutes of the quarter. Sophomore
Shelby Companion and McCauley each knocked down a triple to help pull the Corsairs away with a 70-42 lead heading into the fourth.
McCauley drained back-to-back three-pointers for UMass Dartmouth to start the fourth quarter and earn the team their largest lead of the afternoon at 32-points. At the 6:42 mark, McCauley once again clipped in a shot from distance off the feed from Andrews for her fifth triple of the game. Shortly after junior
Cristina Negron checked into the contest, she sank her first basket from behind the arc followed by a good layup to make it 85-46. Fifth year
Jemima Joseph cemented the Corsairs win with her basket defeating the Wolves by a final score of 87-52 on the road.
Whiteside dropped a season-high 22 points in the victory going 7-of-11 from the floor for a 63.6 shooting percentage. She went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and banked in one three-pointer along with a team-high nine boards and two blocks. McCauley recorded her 10
th double digit game of the season with 16 points (5-12 FG, 5-9 3-FG, 1-2 F) and has scored 10 or more points in six of the last seven contests. All five of her baskets came from behind the arc while also posting a season-high four steals.
Andrews ended the game with 15 points (7-11 FG, 1-4 FT) and dished out a team-high six assists to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Mills also scored in double figures for the Corsairs with 10 points (4-13 FG, 2-8 3-FG, 0-1 F) along with four rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
UMass Dartmouth return to Tripp Athletic Center to host Keene State College on Wednesday, Jan. 22 for their next conference showdown. The LEC contest is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start time.
