University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
( 7- 9, 4-1)
Dayton
( 8- 8, 3-2)
Women's Basketball Downs Dayton, 71-65, At Home
January 16, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2000
AMHERST, Mass. - Sophomore Caroline Nehls (Randolph, N.J.) tallied a team-high 18 points, on six-of-nine shooting from the field, to lead the University of Massachusetts to a 71-65 victory over Dayton at home on Jan. 16. The Minutewomen improve to 4-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference (7-9 overall) with the win, while the Flyers fall to 3-2 in the conference (8-8 overall).
Nehls set a Mullins Center record for blocks with a career-high six blocks in the game and dished out a career and team-high four assists, in addition to going six-for-six from the charity stripe.
"I have been in kind of a slump lately," Nehls said. "And I had to go back and really think about what I needed to improve upon and get my head straight. I think I finally pulled it all together, and everything came back to me that was there in the beginning of the season."
Freshman Jennifer Butler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) posted her seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-high 13 rebounds, in addition to registering a team-high three steals. Senior Tonia Thomas (Seguin, Texas) netted 12 points on three-of-three shooting from behind the arc.
"Obviously it was a game where both teams played extremely hard," head coach Joanie O?Brien said. "I thought Jen and Caroline controlled the tempo of the game, and it was a game where we talked about the paint being something we needed to control. And for the most part, I thought we did that. When push came to shove, Jen and Caroline really stepped up and made the plays when we needed them to be made."
UMass jumped out to an early 13-6 lead in the first half and increased that advantage to as much as 12 points at the 3:17 at 31-19. But Dayton rallied back to cut that lead down to seven points on a 7-2 spurt to finish the first half down, 33-26.
The Minutewomen created a 10-4 run to start out the second half, which was marked by two layups by Nehls, to increase their advantage to 13 points at the 16:25 mark at 43-30. The Flyers were able to take their first lead of the game after a 12-0 run at the 8:32, which put Dayton ahead, 58-56. But it would be the Flyers only lead of the game as Thomas converted on four consecutive free-throws at the end of the game to secure the victory for UMass at 71-65.
The Minutewomen shot 48.2 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the free-throw line, while Dayton was limited to 39.7 percent shooting from the field and 55.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Cyndi Stull led the Flyers with 14 points and seven rebounds in the game. Christi Hester added 12 points, while Sarah Schloss netted 11 points.
UMass is next in action on Jan. 20 at Fordham at 7 p.m.
