University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
( 9-11, 6-3)
Saint Joseph's
(17- 3, 8-1)
Women's Basketball Falls to St. Joseph's, 62-49
January 29, 2000 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2000
AMHERST, Mass. - Sophomore Nekole Smith (Ann Arbor, Mich.) tallied a team-high 14 points in the University of Massachusetts, 62-49, loss to St. Joseph's on Jan. 30 in the Mullins Center. The Minutewomen fall to 6-3 in the Atlantic 10 with the loss (9-11 overall), while the Hawks improve to 8-1 in conference play (17-3 overall) this season.
Junior Kathy Coyner (Belpre, Ohio) also scored in double-figures in the game for UMass with 12 points, in addition to dishing out a team-high five assists. Freshman Jennifer Butler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and sophomore Caroline Nehls (Randolph, N.J.) led the squad in rebounding with seven boards apiece.
Senior Jana Lichnerova paced St. Joseph's in scoring with 17 points on six-of-12 shooting from the field. Sophomore Susan Moran and junior Cheryl Kulesa also scored in double-figures, netting 10 points each in the game.
It was a low-scoring first half for both the Hawks and the Minutewomen with each squad shooting at just 25 percent from the field. The half saw six tie scores with the last coming with 36 seconds remaining at 17-17. Smith then chipped in a free-throw to give UMass the one-point lead heading into the second half.
Free-throws were key in the second half, as the Hawks went to the charity stripe 10 times, connecting on 17-of-20 shots for an 85 percent accuracy. The Minutewomen were limited to just two free-throw shooting opportunities in the second period. UMass increased its advantage to five at the 16:14 on a three-pointer by senior Tonia Thomas (Seguin, Texas), but that lead would soon come to a stop, as the Hawks rallied to take a 14-point advantage on an 14-2 run at the 9:41 to lead, 54-40, with two minutes remaining in the game. UMass was without a field goal for eight minutes during that time span before Coyner nailed a jumper at the 1:46 to stop the drought. The Hawks outscored the Minutewomen, 10-7, in the final seconds of the game to come out on top, 62-49.
"Every time we made a mistake defensively, St. Joseph's took advantage of it," head coach Joanie O'Brien said. "They are a team where once they get the lead, they are one of the best teams at maintaining it. And we needed to shoot the ball with some confidence, which we didn't do today."
UMass is next in action on Feb. 6 against Temple at noon in Philadelphia, Pa. The game will be broadcasted live by the Atlantic 10 network on Fox Sports New England.
