DARTMOUTH, Mass. – For the first time in program history, the nationally ranked No. 24/RV UMass Dartmouth women's basketball team were crowned the 2025 Little East Conference Champions after defeating the University of Southern Maine, 94-50, on Saturday from the Tripp Athletic Center. Graduate student
Jane McCauley powered UMass Dartmouth with her 32-point performance, clipping in a career-high 10 three-pointers (10-13) while three other Corsairs scored in double-digits in the championship game.
The Corsairs captured their first-ever Little East Championship title in program history, snapping a 38-year long drought. UMass Dartmouth made their first appearance in the LEC championship game back in 2013 against Southern Maine and reached the finals four more times in the previous seven seasons.
The Corsairs started strong building an early 6-0 lead kicked off with a pair of free throws from graduate student forward
Carly Whiteside and finished with a driving layup from fifth year captain
Kaylin Zalewski. UMass Dartmouth continued to grow their advantage with a 7-2 run highlighted by a three-pointer from graduate student
Jane McCauley off the assist from senior guard
Amaris Mills to pull away with a double-digit lead with 3:41 left in the opening quarter. Both teams exchanged late buckets, but the Corsairs took a 22-10 edge after the first.
Fifth year guard
Jemima Joseph laid in a bucket to get the UMass Dartmouth offense going in the second quarter doubling the home team's advantage. McCauley clipped in two triples in a 10-0 run to take a commanding 32-12 lead over the Huskies with 7:47 remaining in the opening half of the game. After Mills drained a three-pointer off the feed from graduate student captain
Teja Andrews, Jade Smedberg nailed back-to-back triples for Southern Maine to make it a 35-19 game. In the last two minutes of the quarter, Whiteside finished a pair of buckets in the paint to give UMass Dartmouth an 18-point cushion at halftime.
Early in the third quarter, the Corsairs went on a 7-0 run featuring four points from Whiteside along with a three-pointer by McCauley to extend UMass Dartmouth's lead to 24 points. Zalewski nailed a triple at the 5:32 mark off the assist from junior guard
Melanie DeMeo to make it 53-29. Shortly after, McCauley and DeMeo each knocked down a three-pointer in a 9-0 run that was finished off by an and-one play from fifth year guard
Jemima Joseph. McCauley sank her third three-pointer of the quarter before Lucy Wiles made two layups to end the third with the Corsairs up 65-40.
UMass Dartmouth pulled away with a 36-point advantage thanks to a 13-0 run highlighted by three consecutive triples by McCauley, bringing her to nine total three-pointers on the afternoon. Andrews finished a fastbreak layup to start a 7-0 run which McCauley completed with her 10
th made three-pointer of the game. With under three minutes left in the contest, UMass Dartmouth finished the game strong with a 9-0 run featuring triples from junior
Kasey Oliver and DeMeo to defeat the Huskies in the conference finals by a score of 94-50.
McCauley scored a career-high 32 points in championship game for UMass Dartmouth going 11-for-14 from the field with 10 of her made buckets coming from behind the arc for an impressive 76.9 three-point shooting percentage. Whiteside, who was named LEC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, recorded her sixth double-double of the season scoring 18 total points (6-10 FG, 6-7 FT) and hauling in a game-high 10 total rebounds. Joseph finished the afternoon with 11 total points making 3-of-5 buckets from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line to go along with seven boards. Zalewski also scored in double figures with 10 total points (4-9 FG, 2-6 3-FG) with six assists, four rebounds, and a pair of steals.
UMass Dartmouth earned the conference's automatic qualifying bid and will find out their next opponent for the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament on Monday, Mar. 5 during the selection show at 2:30 pm.
