BOSTON, Mass. – Backed by a strong second half effort and double-figures from four different players, the UMass Dartmouth women's basketball team defeated fourth-seeded UMass Boston, 80-70 in the First Round of the Little East Conference Tournament on Thursday at the Clark Athletic Center.
The fifth-seeded Corsairs move to 11-15 overall with the win and advance to Friday's LEC Semifinals matchup where they will travel to top-seed Southern Maine for a 6pm showdown against the nationally-ranked Huskies. UMass Boston concludes its season with a 14-12 record.
Trailing by a 37-32 margin at halftime, the Corsairs stole momentum back, converting on a layup and one to close the gap to 37-35 at 8:56 of the third quarter. It became a three-point show as senior guard
Melanie DeMeo hit one, countered at the other end by another from Madison Haggett to make it 44-38 just over a minute later.
A jumper from senior guard
Kasey Oliver helped pull the score to 48-42, but a pair of free throws later by UMB's Hialeah Turner-Foster saw the Beacons regain a 51-43 advantage with 2:30 left in the frame. Graduate student guard
Kaila Pruitt worked to give the Corsairs back a bit of momentum, nailing a three with four seconds left to send the team's into the final quarter with UMB up 54-50.
It was a 10-0 run over a three minute span, anchored by a layup at 8:23 of the fourth quarter by graduate student guard
Yasmine Santos to erase a four-point deficit to take a 56-55 advantage. The Corsairs continued their run, adding five more points behind a trey from Pruitt and a layup by rookie guard
Amanda Ebenezer to push the lead to 61-55 with 6:41 remaining in the game.
The Beacons did not go down quietly as Berrios laid down back-to-back layups, cutting the margin down to 61-59, but another Ebenezer layup pushed the Corsairs back out to a four-point edge (63-59).
UMass Boston nabbed a free throw, making it a four-point (64-60) game with 3:45 to play, but a layup by DeMeo widened the gap to 66-60 seconds later. UMB quickly got a jumper from Jordis Tautalatasi, who capitalized on an ensuing free throw to close the gap to 66-64, but UMD took advantage on the other end with another DeMeo layup and one to open the score to 69-64 with just 2:06 to go.
The Corsairs capitalized at the line over the final minutes of play as free throw makes by Oliver, Ebenezer and DeMeo widened the gap to 76-64. The teams continued to trade buckets, but UMD kept up their dominance at the line for the 80-70 final score.
DeMeo led the way for the Corsairs with 22 points, while Ebenezer recorded a career and season-high 20 points with 11 rebounds to complete the double-double. She also added an assist, two blocks and a steal. Oliver also posted a double-double, dropping in 11 points with a career and season-high 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and five steals – both game-high's. Santos added 13 points with six boards, while sophomore guard
Elizabeth Gresian finished with five points and a career and season-high 10 rebounds.
