DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The UMass Dartmouth women's basketball team were tripped up by UMass Boston, 79-61, in Little East Conference (LEC) play on Thursday afternoon. The Corsairs dropped to a 1-3 conference record and 4-9 overall this season while the Beacons secured their third league win to move to 3-1.
After a quiet start to the game, graduate student guard
Kaila Pruitt opened the scoring with a layup to put UMass Dartmouth up 2-0. The Beacons took a quick 6-4 edge in the contest before graduate student guard
Yasmine Santos finished a basket in the paint off the feed from senior guard
Melanie DeMeo to go ahead 7-6. First year guard
Carly McDonald and senior guard
Kasey Oliver each drained a three-point shot apiece to help the Corsairs pull away with a 17-12 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
DeMeo kicked off the second quarter with another triple off the assist from sophomore guard
Elizabeth Gresian to make it 20-12. UMass Boston narrowed the home team's advantage down to 22-20 with an 8-2 run finished off by a three-pointer from Sibayla Jensen. Both teams continued to exchange points midway through the quarter highlighted by a jumper from first year
Jillian Doherty to make it 28-26 with 4:23 on the clock. The Beacons closed out the second quarter thanks to a 9-2 run to take a 35-31 edge at the break.
Trailing 40-33 early in the third, Pruitt knocked down a triple off the feed from DeMeo to cut the Beacons lead down to 40-36. UMass Boston continued to tack on six points including four points from Ashleigh Lagor to go ahead 46-37 at the 6:19 mark. Santos scored the next five straight points for UMass Dartmouth, narrowing the Beacons lead to just six points. McDonald nailed a three-point shot in the last two minutes of the quarter, but the Beacons held a 58-48 advantage heading into the final quarter.
After UMass Boston opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run, Santos got the Corsairs offense rolling with a layup and one free throw to make it a 64-51 game. Both teams exchanged baskets crossing into the final five minutes of action with Santos adding another four points. Doherty clipped in a late triple off the assist from first year
Jenna Micciantuono, but the Beacons stayed in control to secure the win by a final score of 79-61 from the Tripp Athletic Center.
Santos scored a game-high 29 points after going 8-for-18 from the field and 13-for-18 from the free throw line. She also notched her fourth double-double of the season after hauling in 10 rebounds to go along with one assist, one steal, and a blocked shot. DeMeo finished the game with eight points (3-8 FG, 2-5 3FG) with three boards, two assists, and a steal. McDonald tallied six points after clipping in a pair of three-pointers (2-5 3FG) along with three rebounds for the Corsairs. Oliver led the squad with six steals in addition to five points (1-4 FG, 1-2 3FG, 2-4 FT) and two defense boards. Gresian dished out a career-high five assists for UMass Dartmouth while also recording three rebounds and a steal.
UMass Dartmouth returns to Little East action on Saturday, January 10
th hosting Western Connecticut State University for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff.
