University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Holy Cross Sunday
November 22, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2003
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Game Day... After opening the season with a 61-46 road loss to Sacred Heart Friday night, the University of Massachusetts women's basketball team returns to the Mullins Center to host Holy Cross this afternoon. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m. Holy Cross is coming off an 87-76 home court loss to St. John's. The Crusaders lead the all-time series, 7-5, but UMass is 4-2 all-time at home. The Minutewomen have won all three games played at the Mullins Center. The last time these two teams met was November 16, 2001 at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. The Crusaders were victorious, 68-42.
Scouting The Crusaders ... Like UMass, Holy Cross is 0-1. It lost to St. John's, 87-76, Friday night at home. Despite the loss, four Crusaders scored in double-figures. Guard Sarah Placek led the way with 19 points. Center Lisa Andrews had 17 points, five assists and four rebounds, while forward Mary Rose Campbell had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Guard Jessica Conte also had 13 points and five boards.
The Crusaders shot 54 percent in their game with the Red Storm, but were victimized by 28 turnovers and just a 50 percent conversion rate at the free throw line. St. John's turned all of those turnovers into 32 points.
The Series ... Holy Cross leads the all-time with Massachusetts, 7-5. The Minutewomen are 4-2 at home, including a 3-0 mark at the Mullins Center. The Minutewomen have taken four of the last six games in the series. The last time in the Mullins Center, UMass was a 62-57 winner in overtime on Nov. 26, 2000.
Last Game Against the Crusaders ... Maggie Fontana scored a game high 17 points to lead Holy Cross to a 68-42 victory over UMass on Nov. 16, 2001, at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. Early in the first half, the Minutewomen and Crusaders looked evenly matched, trading basket for basket until the 12 minute mark. The Crusaders went on to score 19 unanswered points in just under 10 minutes to leave the Minutewomen trailing by 21 at halftime.
Jennifer Butler had 10 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Minutewomen in scoring. Siiri Liivandi had 10 points and two steals, while Amber Sneed chipped in seven points and five assists for the Minutewomen.
Trying To Change It On The Road ... After Friday night's loss at Sacred Heart, the Minutewomen have dropped seven straight games when opening the season on the road. Their last win was a 44-40 win over St. Francis (Pa.) in the first round of the Red Flash Classic on Nov. 23, 1991. Overall, the Minutewomen are now 16-20 in season openers, 7-9 on the road.
Dating back to last season, the Minutewomen have now dropped 12 straight games away from the Mullins Center. This includes a pair of neutral site games. The last win for Massachusetts away from Amherst was a 59-45 win at Rhode Island on Dec. 9, 2002. Prior to that streak, the Minutewomen had been victorious on seven of nine straight road or neutral site contests.
Home Sweet Home ... The 2003-04 Minutewomen will be looking to continue their hot play at home. Massachusetts, which was 10-3 at home last year (including one game played at the Curry Hicks Cage), has been successful at home in 12 of the past 15 games. In addition, the Minutewomen have won five straight non-conference home games and six of its past seven.
Last year, the Minutewomen were a different team away from the Mullins Center. UMass averaged 65.5 ppg at home, while allowing opponents to score just 58.0. On the road, however, UMass scored just 59.2 ppg and allowed 62.2. Massachusetts shot .412 (320-776) from the field at home, over 40 points ahead of what it shots on the road.
Nelson Out ... Massachusetts will be without the services of junior point guard Katie Nelson. Nelson left the Jan. 26, 2002 game against Dayton with a knee injury and with the exception of a brief three-minute stint at George Washington on Feb. 13, 2003, did play again last season. She had off-season surgery and is not yet at 100 percent.
Nice Debut ...One of the positives from Friday night's loss at Sacred Heart was the play of the UMass newcomers. Freshman center Tamara Tatham led all UMass scorers with 10 points in her collegiate debut. She was 4-for-10 from the field and 2-for-2 at the free throw line. She also had three rebounds and a blocked shot. Junior Brooke Campbell had six points and six boards in her debut, while junior Edris Bailey had a solid night with eight points, four rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal. Sophomore Ashley Sharpton went 2-for-3 from behind the arc and finished with six points.
Career Night ... In Friday's loss at Sacred Heart, senior Judit Zsedenyi tied a career-high with nine points. She also poured in nine points at Dayton on Jan. 26, 2003. The Budapest, Hungary, native also added five rebounds three assists and a steal while going a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in 33 minutes of play.
Let's Meet The Newcomers ... Most Minutewoman fans will need a program for the first few games as this year's roster features seven new faces.
Edris Bailey, is a 6-2 forward who last played at Frank Phillips (Texas) Junior College. She is one of three JUCO transfers on this year's roster. At Frank Phillips, Bailey led the team with 11.3 points per game and was third in rebounding at 5.2 boards per game. Two years ago, she averaged 16.7 points and 7.0 rebounds at Southern University in Shreveport, La.
Brooke Campbell, a 6-0 forward, is the other new JUCO transfer as she spent the last two seasons at Midland (Texas) Junior College. Campbell averaged 7.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in two years with the Lady Chaparrals.
Patrycja Gulak is a 6-4 center who transferred from St. John's University. Gulak is not eligible to play this season but can practice with her new teammates. The two-time All-Big East Academic team member averaged 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game with the Red Storm the past two years.
Joyce Massey is a 5-11 guard out of Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, Mich. Last year as a senior captain, Massey led her team to a city championship, district title, regional crown and a trip to the state finals while averaging 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals per game.
After sitting out last year, Ashley Sharpton is eligible this year. The 5-10 guard who transferred from the University of North Carolina-Asheville, was a Big South All-Rookie team member two years ago. She averaged 6.9 points per game in just over 25 minutes as a freshman.
The final newcomer is Tamara Tatham. She is a 6-1 forward from Chinguacousy High School in Brampton, Ontario. Last year as a senior, she averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds a game.
Sacred Heart Recap ... Tamara Tatham scored 10 points in her collegiate debut, but the University of Massachusetts women's basketball team fell to Sacred Heart University, 61-46, at the William H. Pitt Center Friday night in both squads' season openers. The Minutewomen jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a three-point basket by Judit Zsedenyi at the 18:37 mark of the first half, but could not build on it any more. The teams traded baskets for several minutes and then Sacred Heart took the lead for good at the 9:25 mark at 13-11. UMass went cold the rest of the half and the Pioneers built a 30-19 lead at halftime.
Nicolle Rubino hit a bucket for the Pioneers to start the second half to push the lead to 32-19, but UMass showed it still had life by going on a 17-5 run over the next six minutes to close within a point a 37-36 with 13:15 to play on a steal and lay-up by junior Edris Bailey. Sacred Heart, however, ran off the next seven points over a five-minute span to widen the gap to 44-36 and UMass could not get any closer than three points the rest of the way.
Tatham led the Minutewomen with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and three rebounds. Zsedenyi finished with nine points, five rebounds and three assists. Bailey had eight points and four boards, while senior Cleo Foster had four assists. In her first game as a Minutewoman, sophomore Ashley Sharpton had six points on 2-of-3 shooting from three-point range. UMass shot just .367 (18-49) for the game and committed 25 turnovers. The Minutewomen did out-rebound the Pioneers, 33-31.
It's An International Thing ... This year's UMass roster certainly has an International feel to it. There are five players who hail from overseas. Cleo Foster and Tamara Tatham are both from Ontario, Canada. Judit Zsedenyi is a native of Hungary, while junior redshirt Patrycja Gulak is from Poland. Edris Bailey is from Trinidad & Tobago.
Making Her Mark ... Prior to injuring her knee Jan. 26, 2003 at Dayton, junior point guard Katie Nelson had started in each of her 48 career games since arriving in Amherst. The Ellicott City, Md., native averaged 37.1 minutes last year and was the only member of either team to play in all 50 minutes of the Minutewomen's, 78-70, double-overtime loss to Florida in the State Farm Classic Dec. 28. Nelson, whose father William is the head men's basketball coach at Johns Hopkins (Md.) University, has already cracked the top five in three-point field goals made and attempted. Nelson currently ranks third all-time in school history with 296 attempts, while her 91 trifectas are good for fourth. Nelson also ranks 10th with a .307 percentage from behind the arc.
Early Additions ...The loss of seven seniors and just two in the freshman class has left UMass head coach Marnie Dacko and her staff several scholarships to offer this recruiting season. The Minutewomen were able to ink five during the early signing period, Nov. 12-19. Here is a quick look at each of them.
Kate Mills is a 6-2 forward out of the Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Del. Last season, she averaged 18 points, eight rebounds, two steals and three blocks per game en route to All-State honors. For her career, Mills has recorded 1,122 points, 733 rebounds and 272 blocks. As a freshman, she was an honorable mention All-State pick, while earning third-team All-State accolades as a sophomore. Mills is a member of the National Honor Society and has also been a part of two volleyball state championship teams.
Pam Rosanio is a 5-10 guard out of Archbishop Wood High School in Southampton, Pa. Last season, she averaged 15.5 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals en route to All-Philadelphia Catholic League North first-team honors. She also helped the Vikings advance to the Catholic League semifinals. Rosanio currently has 851 career points and is on pace to score over 1,000 points. The school record is 1,296 points.
Kaylie Schiavetta is a 5-7 guard from Northport High School in Northport, N.Y. Last season, she averaged 17.8 points per game en route to Class A third-team All-State accolades. In 2001-02, she averaged 14.2 points per game and was a member of the Suffolk County All-Star team while her squad won the league championship. As a freshman in 2000-01, Schiavetta was named to the All-County team.
Whitney McDonald is a 6-2 forward from Ossining High School in Ossining, N.Y. Last season, she averaged 14.5 points and 10 rebounds per game and was an All-League, All-Section and All-State selection. She is a two-time member of the Gold Empire State team.
Alisha Tatham, a 5-11 guard out of Chingaucousy Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, averaged 25 points, nine rebounds and four steals this past season which just wrapped up. She is also the sister of current UMass freshman Tamara Tatham (Brampton, Ontario). Last season, she led her high school to its first-ever OFSAA Tournament. Tatham was also a member of the Ontario Juvenile Provincial team which captured the gold medal in the Provincial Games held in Manitoba in August of 2003.
Marnie's Army Leader ... With an 8-1 start last year, Massachusetts Head Coach Marnie Dacko enjoyed the best start of any UMass coach in their first season at the helm, not to mention the second-best start of any UMass team in the program's history as the 1968-69 team, which started 9-0, did not have a coach. When the Minutewomen downed Sacred Heart, 74-48 on Nov. 22 2002, Dacko became the seventh head coach out of nine in the program's history to win their first game on the UMass bench. The 1978 Southern Connecticut State University graduate is currently 14-15 (.483) at UMass and 94-119 (.441) overall in eight seasons as a head coach.
On The Other Side ... Head coach Bill Gibbons is entering his 19th season as head coach of the Holy Cross Women's Basketball program. Gibbons has compiled a 380-158 overall record and has led the Crusaders to nine Patriot League Championships in the last 13 years. He has also made 10 postseason appearances (nine NCAA Tournaments and one WNIT) in his 18 years as head coach.
From Here ... After today's late afternoon tip, the Minutewomen will hit the road for seven of the next eight games. They will leave tomorrow for Tuesday night's game at Syracuse (7:00 p.m.). Next weekend, the Minutewomen will participate in the Coca-Cola Classic in Bridgeport, Conn. UMass will take on host-school Fairfield at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and then either Delaware or Brown on Sunday. After a game with Vermont on Dec. 3 at the Cage (see next note), the Minutewomen head to Arizona to participate in the Fiesta Bowl Women's Classic. UMass plays Utah State in the first round and then either Arizona or American on the second day. It will be Dec. 30 against UNC-Greensboro before the Minutewomen return home after that. They will play at Northeastern (Dec. 14) and Hartford (Dec. 21) in that 27-day stretch between home games.
Rage In The Cage II ... On December 3, the Minutewomen will host Vermont at the Curry Hicks Cage. In Rage In The Cage I on December 11, 2002, UMass upset Villanova, 55-50. The Wildcats advanced to the Elite Eight last year and defeated eventual national champion, Connecticut in the Big East Championship game and ended the Huskies' 70-game winning streak.