University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Ends Trip In Toledo
November 30, 2002 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2002
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Game Day Information ...
What: Massachusetts (2-1) vs. Toledo (2-0)
Where: Savage Hall (9,000) * Toledo, Ohio
When: Sunday, Dec. 1, 2002 * 2:00 p.m.
Television: None
Radio: WMUA, 91.1 FM in Amherst
Matt Sherman (play-by-play) & Andy Boncaddo (color)
Game Day...Sunday afternoon's game is the final stop of a season-long three-game road trip for the Minutewomen. Massachusetts is now 2-1 following a 91-65 loss at Michigan Friday night. The 2-0 start was the best for the Minutewomen since they began the 1997-98 campaign 3-0. Michigan shot .733 (22-30) in the first half Friday night and cruised to victory. UMass looks to get back on the winning way today against Toledo. The Rockets are 2-0 with wins over Iona (92-36) and Michigan State (58-55). Toledo returns two starters and seven letterwinners from the 2001-02 squad which posted a 17-11 overall record. They were 12-4 in the Mid-American Conference, good for second-place in the West Division.
Impressive Start ... When the Minutewomen downed Sacred Heart, 74-48 on Nov. 22, Marnie Dacko became the seventh head coach out of nine in the program's history to win their first game. Of the seven, five have gone on to win at least their next game. Jane Farr (1972-73), Carol Albert (1974-75) and Jack Leaman (1986-87) all started 3-0, while Kathy Hewelt led the Minutewomen to a 5-0 start in the 1988-89 season. Dacko began 2-0 before losing for the first time at Michigan Friday night.
Scouting The Rockets ... Toledo is 2-0 this season with wins coming at home over Iona (92-36) and at Michigan State (58-55). The Rockets are led by senior forward Tia Davis, one of two returning starters. She is averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Junior forward Julie Hillis is second on the team with 11.0 points per game coming of the bench. Senior forward Teresa Kahle averages 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds a game, while sophomore center Karin Hoogendam leads the team, pulling down 10.5 rebounds per contest. Toledo is averaging 75.0 points per game, while allowing a mere 45.5 points per game.
The Series ... This afternoon's game marks the first-ever meeting between these two schools.
Minimizing the Turnovers ... There are not many positives to come out of Friday's 91-65 loss at Michigan, but one is that UMass committed a season-low 10 turnovers. After averaging 21.5 turnovers a game in the first two contests, the Minutewomen did a good job hanging onto the ball Friday night.
Wolverines En Fuego ... With the way Michigan came out shooting Friday night, UConn's winning streak would have been in jeopardy. The Wolverines shot .733 (22-30) from the field and were 9-of-10 from the line, scoring 55 points in the first half. Massachusetts tried to stay in the game, but 4-of-14 shooting from behind the arc and only six defensive rebounds, combined with early foul trouble, equalled a 17-point deficit. In the second half, Michigan cooled off a little, but used an 18-4 run over 7:07 to end any Minutewoman come-back. The Minutewomen went nearly four minutes until their first basket.
Michigan Recap ... Senior center Jen Butler had a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the University of Massachusetts women's basketball team (2-1) fell to the University of Michigan (3-0), 91-65, this evening before 1,522 fans at Chrisler Arena. The Wolverines took advantage of hot shooting and early Minutewoman foul trouble to build a 17-point halftime lead. The home team shot .733 (22-30) in the first half, while the Minutewomen shot .375 (15-40). Michigan used an 18-4 over the first 7:07 of the second half to put the game away.
"We have to give credit to Michigan," said Massachusetts Head Coach Marnie Dacko. "The found out our weaknesses and exploited them. Even in our new defense, we were clearly manhandled. It was a pretty frustrating night. We had our open looks, but the ball was just not going in."
Senior Ebony Pegues poured in 14 points for the Minutewomen, while senior Nekole Smith had seven points and four rebounds in her homecoming. Junior Judit Zsedenyi had a career-high six points on two three-pointers. She has now hit at least one trifecta in each of the three games this year. Sophomore Katie Nelson tied a career-high by dishing out seven assists in 34 minutes. She only turned the ball over twice. Senior Amber Sneed contributed with eight points. The double-double for Butler was her second of the season and 43rd for her career. She is currently 12th all-time in scoring on the UMass chart and climbing. Jennifer Smith scored a game-high 20 points for the Wolverines, one of four Maize and Blue players to record double figures. Tabitha Pool had 17, while LeeAnn Bies and Raina Goodlow scored 12 and 11, respectively. Smith and Pool each shot 7-of-9 from the field.
Blow Outs ... Last Friday, the Minutewomen downed Sacred Heart, 74-48. The 26-point win was the most that a UMass team has won a season opener by since an 86-49 win over Harvard on Nov. 29, 1978. On the flip side, the 91 points scored by Michigan Friday night is the most points that a UMass team has allowed since a 100-47 loss at Stanford on Dec. 6, 1996.
All-Conference Team ... After being the only player in the Atlantic 10 to average a double-double in 2001-02, senior center Jennifer Butler was named a first team preseason All-Conference selection in a poll conducted by league coaches earlier this month. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native averaged 13.2 ppg and 11.8 rpg a year ago. She was also selected to the A-10 preseason All-Defensive team. Her rebounding figure led the conference and ranked fifth nationally (second among 2002-03 returnees a year ago). Additionally last season, Butler became just the 13th player in Massachusetts history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau with her seven-point performance against Temple in the Atlantic 10 semifinals. Jen was a second team All-Conference and All-Defensive team pick a year ago. So far this year, Butler is averaging 13.0 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. She is currently first in the Atlantic 10 in rebounding.
Downtown Zsedenyi ... Cottey Junior College transfer Judit Zsedenyi has now made at least one three-pointer in each of the three games this season. Against Michigan, the Budapest, Hungary, native connected on two trifectas for a career-high six points in a career-long 21 minutes. She also set a new career-high pulling down two boards against the Wolverines.
Strength of Schedule ... The Minutewomen's non-conference schedule is the 44th toughest in the nation according to the WBCA/Summerville Preseason RPI. Massachusetts will play eight teams which participated in either the NCAA Tournament or WNIT a year ago. This year's slate includes match-ups with Florida, Memphis, Michigan, Toledo, Vermont, Villanova and possibly Virginia in either the championship or consolation game of the State Farm Classic in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Dec. 29. Saint Peter's, Villanova, Florida, Virginia and A-10 Tournament champion Temple all participated in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, while Vermont, Saint Joseph's and George Washington played in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The Catamounts advanced to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. A-10 West preseason pick George Washington is currently ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll and 24th in the ESPN/USA Today Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) poll.
RPI ... Currently, UMass has an RPI (ratings percentage index) of 59. The RPI is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider things like margin of victory or where a game is played, only whether or not a team won. It is used by the NCAA as one of their factors in deciding which teams to invite to the NCAA Tournament and where to seed them. The basic formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). The Minutewomen's next opponent, Toledo, is currently ranked 107.
What Sophomore Jinx? ... Sophomore point guard Katie Nelson showed last year as a freshman that she was not afraid to pull the trigger from downtown. The Ellicott City, Md., native made 50 three-point field goals, good for second-place on the school's single-season list. Her 167 three-point attempts were the most in a single-season. After going 4-for-5 from downtown in the win over Sacred Heart on Nov. 22, and then adding another trifecta against Saint Peter's and Michigan, Nelson has jumped to eighth on the career chart with 56 three-point field goals made. Her 188 attempts rank seventh on the school's all-time chart. She also sits in 11th-place all-time with a .300 percentage from behind the arc. Nelson is also clutch from the charity stripe. She made five free throws in the final 1:31 last Monday to help the Minutewomen earn a 52-49 come-from-behind victory over Saint Peter's.
Middle of the Pack ... In a poll conducted by the A-10's coaches, the Minutewomen have been picked to finish third in the East, behind 2002 tournament champion Temple and Saint Joseph's. In the West, George Washington has been tabbed as the team to beat. Massachusetts finished third in the East last season and advanced to the semifinals of the A-10 Tournament before falling to Temple in overtime, 67-61. The Minutewomen were the only team to knock off George Washington (15-1) in the regular season with a 62-53 triumph on Senior Day at the Mullins Center, Feb. 24, 2002.
Record-Breaking Butler ... Jennifer Butler pulled down a school single-season record 353 rebounds last year bringing her career total to 916. With a 10-rebound performance in last season's A-10 quarterfinal victory over Richmond, Butler became the school's all-time leading rebounder. In the next game, a 67-61 overtime loss to Temple in the semifinals, she scored seven points to become the 13th player in Massachusetts history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. Her three single-season rebounding tallies (353 in 2001-02, 294 in 1999-00 and 269 in 2000-01) respectively rank as the first-, second- and third-best efforts in school history. She has tallied 43 career double-doubles and owns the school's only triple- double. Butler has moved up to 12th-place all-time in school history with 1040 career points. Alison MacFarland ('00) currently sits in 11th-place with 1060 points in 117 games. Butler is also in fourth place all-time with 106 blocks and 177 steals. She currently ranks third in school history with 486 free throw attempts and sixth with 258 free throws made.
She Can Dish It Out ... Sophomore guard Katie Nelson is currently fourth in the conference with a 1.57 assists to turnover ratio. She has already dished out a career-high seven assists against Sacred Heart and Michigan. Last year, the Ellicott City, Md., native averaged 3.07 assists per game, good for 13th in the Atlantic 10.Through three games in 2002-03, Nelson sits in 13th-place in the A-10, averaging 5.7 assists per game.
Newcomers ... With Dacko's spring arrival, she was unable to bring in any true freshman to this year's team. However, there are two newcomers on the squad in Judit Zsedenyi (Budapest, Hungary) and Ashley Sharpton (Conyers, Ga.). Zsedenyi, a transfer from Cottey (Mo.) Junior College, has hit at least one three-pointer in both games this season, while playing in 18.0 minutes per game. The 5-10 guard/forward averaged 14.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 3.1 apg as a sophomore while earning first team All-Region XVI-Division II honors for the second consecutive season. She tallied 20 double-figure scoring games as a sophomore, one of which was a 26-point performance against Meramec Community College, and recorded a pair of double-doubles. A transfer from the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Sharpton will have to sit out this season per NCAA transfer requirements, but will have three years of eligibility beginning next year. The 5-10 guard enjoyed a successful freshman year with the Bulldogs, averaging 6.9 ppg en route to Big South All-Rookie team honors.
The Coaches ... Massachusetts Head Coach Marnie Dacko won her opening game last Friday against Sacred Heart becoming the seventh head coach in the program's history to win their debut. Dacko is the ninth head coach in Massachusetts history. She won her second game against Saint Peter's and is now just the fifth UMass coach to win at least two games to start their career in Amherst. Prior to arriving at UMass this spring, the 1978 Southern Connecticut State University graduate spent seven seasons at the helm of the Cornell women's program. With the Big Red, Dacko became the school's winningest coach fashioning an 80-104 (.408) record. She led Cornell to its only two winning seasons in the Ivy League (8-6 in both 2000-01 and 2001-02) and graduated 100 percent of her student-athletes. In 24 seasons as a Division I head or assistant coach, Dacko has compiled an impressive 402-281 (.589) record. Her teams have advanced to postseason play nine times, including six NCAA Tournament trips and eight 20-plus win seasons. This includes stops at the University of Wisconsin, St. John's (N.Y.) and Northwestern prior to accepting the head job at Cornell in 1995. Joining her on the bench this season will be Mary Ciuk, Kia Damon and Jodi Culbertson. Ciuk and Culbertson were both with Dacko at Cornell for at least one season, while Damon comes to the Minutewomen via Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.) University. Ciuk has been with Dacko since 1984-85 at Northwestern.
One the other side, Mark Ehlen is in his eighth season at the helm of the Rockets. The 1975 Ohio State graduate has compiled a 159-55 (.743) in seven-plus seasons in Toledo. In over 16 years of coaching, he is 281-185 (.603) overall. The associate head coach of the Rockets is Tina Langley, while the assistants are Jennifer Johnston and Bernard Scott.