University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Continues Road Trip Friday At Richmond
January 10, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2007
UMass Closes Out Six-Game Road Trip This Weekend At Richmond And GW
• UMass (10-6, 0-1 Atlantic 10) looks to snap a two-game losing streak Friday afternoon at Richmond (6-10, 0-1 A-10). The Minutewomen lost their conference opener at Rhode Island Tuesday in overtime, 71-69, while the Spiders lost at No. 12/14 George Washington, 57-50.
• After Friday afternoon's matinee, the Minutewomen make the 100 mile or so journey up I-95 to take on the Colonials Sunday at 2:00.
• Friday's game will be broadcast on WMUA, 91.1 FM in Amherst, and online at www.umassathletics.com. Zach Claudio and Marc Bertrand have the call beginning with the pre-game show at 11:45 AM. Live video and stats will be available at www.umassathletics.com free of charge courtesy of Richmond.
• Richmond leads the all-time series against the Minutewomen, 5-2. UMass snapped a three-game losing streak in the last meeting, an 81-67 win at the Mullins Center on Jan. 19, 2006 (see box score on page 2). The Minutewomen are 0-2 in the Robbins Center.
Last Time Out
• A Safi Mojidi free throw with 3.2 seconds left in overtime gave Rhode Island (3-12, 1-0 A-10) a 71-69 win over Massachusetts (10-6, 0-1) in front of 4,157 fans Tuesday afternoon at the Ryan Center.
• The Minutewomen erased a seven-point URI lead with five minutes left in regulation just to force the extra session. The Minutewomen were then down three points in overtime when Kim Benton tied the game on a three-pointer with 17 seconds left. The Rams came down and Benton was called for a foul as Mojidi ducked into her to draw the contact with 3.2 seconds left. She missed the first, but made the second one and the Minutewomen were unable to get a last second shot off.
• Tamara Tatham scored 16 points to become the 15th UMass player in history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. She had nine rebounds and just missed her third straight double-double.
• Kate Mills led the Minutewomen with 21 points while Pam Rosanio had 11 and Alisha Tatham finished with 10.
• UMass shot 46 percent from the field, but was 17-for-18 (94 percent) at the free throw line.
Scouting Richmond
• Richmond is 6-10 overall and 0-1in league play. It shoots 37 percent from the field, 32 percent from three-point range and 56 percent at the free throw line.
• The Spiders are just about even on the glass (-.01) and average 15.5 turnovers a game.
• Christina Campion leads the team in scoring at 11.8 ppg and is second with 5.2 rpg.
• Sarah Williams is second in scoring at 8.2 ppg while Nikita Thomas paces the squad in rebounding at 5.9 rpg.
Tatham Reaches 1,000
• With a basket at the 2:27 mark of the first half at Rhode Island Jan. 9, senior Tamara Tatham became the 15th player in UMass history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau.
• Tatham is currently 15th in UMass history with her 1,099 points.
• Juniors Pam Rosanio and Kate Mills are also quickly moving up the career ranks. Rosanio needs 146 more points to break 1,000 for her career while Mills is 227 away.
• Rosanio is 23rd with her 854 career points and Mills ranks 27th with 773 points.
Big Win
• UMass' 77-46 win over Holy Cross Jan. 3 was the largest win in nearly six years. The last time a UMass team won by more than 30 points was Feb. 4, 2001. The Minutewomen defeated St. Bonaventure by a score of 76-45 at the Mullins Center.
• It was also the largest win on the road since UMass beat Hofstra 88-53 on Jan. 12, 1993.
Tamara's A Thief
• Tamara Tatham has recorded 15 steals in the last four games and is now fourth in the A-10 with 2.25 spg.
• Tatham posted a career-high tying six steals Jan. 3 against Holy Cross and now has 167 in her career which is eighth in UMass history.
We're Nice Guys
• UMass currently ranks fifth in the nation in fewest fouls a game. The Minutewomen are committing only 13.6 personal fouls a game.
• Fordham leads the nation having allowed just 12.1 fouls a game.
• UMass has committed just 217 personal fouls this year while its opponents have racked up 295. Just one UMass player has fouled out of a game.
The Quartet • UMass has had four, double-figure scorers in six of the last seven games. Here is a list of who has reached double-figures during the streak:
Kate Mills: 6
Pam Rosanio: 6
• UMass is 3-4 in those games, but averaging 70.0 ppg.
Solid At The Line
• UMass made its first 17 free throws at Rhode Island and finished the game 17-for-18, good for 94 percent.
• The lone miss came in overtime preventing the Minutewomen from their first perfect game at the line when taking more than 15 attempts since Jan. 20, 1996.
• UMass was 19-for-19 vs. La Salle that night.
• Kate Mills is seventh in the A-10 this year shooting 82 percent (54-66) at the line. She went 7-for-8 from the line Jan. 9 against Rhode Island while Tamara Tatham was a perfect 8-for-8.
McDonald Hot Off The Bench
• UMass had been looking for a spark off the bench in recent weeks and junior Whitney McDonald provided just that is Jan. 3's 77-46 win at Holy Cross.
• McDonald came off the bench to record a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting against the Crusaders. The Ossining, N.Y., native was also 2-for-2 at the free throw line, grabbed a season-high six rebounds and did not commit a turnover.
• McDonald is now seventh on the team averaging 3.3 ppg this season.
Hot Start
• After beating Stephen F. Austin, 71-63, in the first round of the Best Western Roundball Classic on Nov. 25, UMass began the season 5-0 for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
• The best start to a season in school history was 9-0 by the 1968-69 team, the first women's basketball squad in school history. That team finished the season 13-2.
• Dating back to last year, UMass has won 18 of its last 26 regular season games.
• It was Feb. 19, 2006 before the Minutewomen posted their 10th win last season, a 66-55 win over St. Bonaventure.
• UMass' nine wins in the first two months of the season marks the most the team has ever had before Jan. 1. The previous best was eight when the 2002-03 team (Marnie Dacko's first season at UMass) had eight wins.
A Rare Overtime
• UMass defeated Buffalo, 72-67, in overtime on Dec. 10. That was the Minutewomen's first overtime contest since a loss at St. Bonaventure on Feb. 19, 2004.
• The Minutewomen played their second overtime game of the season Jan. 9 at Rhode Island, a 71-69 loss.
• This is the first time that UMass has played at least two overtime games in a season since 2002-03 when it had three.
Grabbing Those Boards
• Senior Tamara Tatham hauled in a career-high 18 rebounds in UMass' win over Northeastern on Dec. 2.
• It was the most rebounds by a Minutewoman since Edris Bailey had 18 vs. Duquesne on Feb. 8, 2004. It is also the rebounding high by any player in the A-10 this year.
Dishing Them Out
• A good sign of team basketball is high assist numbers and UMass has certainly achieved that this year.
• The Minutewomen currently rank first in the A-10 averaging 17.06 assists a game and are also first with a 1.01 assist to turnover ratio.
• UMass has averaged almost two assists higher than the second-place team La Salle (15.13) and are the only team with an assist to turnover ratio over 1.0.
• The assists have come from very unlikely spots though. The Minutewomen's starting front court has combined for 145 assists while the back court has just 63.
• 6-1 center/forward Tamara Tatham leads the team and is now seventh in the A-10 with 3.50 assists per game. She dished out a career-high eight helpers Nov. 30 against Wagner.
• 6-1 forward Kate Mills handed out a career-high eight helpers at Holy Cross on Jan. 3.
Freshman Finds Niche
• Freshman Kim Benton earned her first career start Dec. 10 at Buffalo and has been on fire ever since.
• The Springfield, Pa., native has now started seven straight games and is averaging 10.2 ppg in those games. Benton poured in a career-high 15 against Buffalo (Dec. 10) and Eastern Michigan (Dec. 13).
• For the season, Benton is fourth on the team averaging 7.6 ppg. She is tied for seventh in the A-10 in three-point field goals made (2.00/game) and is also seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.386).
• In her last seven games, Benton has shot 57 percent (20-35)from three-point range.
A Tourney Win
• UMass' win in the Aeropostale Seton Hall Basketball Classic was its third in-season tournament win all-time and first since taking the Blue Sky Dartmouth Classic, Dec. 28-29, 1999, in Hanover, N.H. The Minutewomen beat Furman and William & Mary en route to the title.
• The only other in-season tournament UMass has won was the Wagner Christmas Tournament, Dec. 28-29, 1996, in Staten Island, N.Y. That year, the Minutewomen knocked off Wagner and New Hampshire en route to the title.
• Overall, UMass is 37-58 (.389) in regular season tournament play.
Tough Defense
• UMass got off to its best defensive start since the 1973-74 season season after allowing just 47.0 ppg in its first four games.
• In 1973-74, the Minutewomen allowed just 141 points (35.3 ppg) in their first four games against Connecticut (68-27), Northeastern (45-37), Keene State (33-36) and Central Connecticut (51-41).
• It was also the best four-game defensive effort since the 1995-96 team allowed just 182 points (45.5 ppg) in consecutive games against Temple, Xavier, Duquesne and Fordham (Feb. 8-18).
• So far this year, UMass has held opponents to just 39 percent (371-956) from the floor and 30 percent (89-294) from three-point range.
• The Minutewomen rank sixth in the league in scoring defense (61.2 ppg), sixth in field goal percentage defense and third in three-point field goal defense.
All-Around Tatham
• After a career-high 24-point and 10-rebound effort against Yale on Jan. 6, Tamara Tatham now has six double-doubles this season after posting just six in her first three seasons.
• She is second in the A-10 this year with the six double-doubles.
• With her best season thus far in a UMass uniform, the Brampton, Ontario, native ranks among the league leader in nearly every statistical category.
• She is currently 15th in scoring (12.9 ppg), second in rebounding (9.3 rpg), eighth in field goal percentage (.523), seventh in assists (3.50), fourth in steals (2.25), 13th in assist to turnover ratio (0.93), tied for 13th in offensive rebounds (2.38), second in defensive rebounds (6.94) and seventh in minutes (34.80).
On Target
• UMass has quietly become the top shooting team in the league. The Minutewomen are currently first in the A-10 shooting 46 percent (378-823) from the field.
• Kate Mills is second in the A-10 and is 23rd nationally shooting 56 percent (99-176) from the floor, while Tamara Tatham is eighth in the league at 52 percent (78-149).
• In the last four games, Tatham has shot a blistering 74 percent (29-39) from the floor.
• UMass is also fifth in the league converting at a 32 percent (60-185) clip from beyond the arc.
Younger Sister Breaks Out
• Junior Alisha Tatham recorded back-to-back solid games at the Best Western Roundball Classic Nov. 25-26, and was a major factor on UMass' comeback win against Stephen F. Austin in the first round.
• Tatham had nine points against Stephen F. Austin, all in a five minute span of the second half that was part of UMass' 25-12 run to erase a 12-point halftime deficit.
• Tatham followed that up with a career-high-tying 13 points in the championship game against South Florida the next day. Tatham was 7-for-11 from the line against the Bulls and 7-for-11 from the field for the weekend, including a perfect 3-for-3 against South Florida.
• For the season, Tatham is fifth on the team averaging 6.4 ppg. She has started all 16 contests for the Minutewomen and is usually guarding the opposing team's top scorer.
Gerardot Notches High Game
• Sophomore Stephanie Gerardot scored a career-high 15 points in UMass' win against Wagner on Nov. 30.
• Gerardot had broken into double-figures just one other time in her career prior to that game but recently added 12 points against Delaware as well.
• For the season, Gerardot is sixth on the team averaging 4.3 ppg.
Mullins Magic
• Despite having its 10-game Mullins Center winning streak snapped by Delaware Dec. 17, Massachusetts has still won 34 of its last 53 games at home, a .642 winning percentage.
• UMass' longest home winning streak prior to this most recent 10-gamer was 14 from Feb. 18, 1995 against Temple to Feb. 27, 1996 vs. Rhode Island. That is also the school record.
Getting To The Line
• The UMass coaching staff has stressed going to the line and that has certainly been the case this year.
• UMass has gone to the line 334 times, while its opponents has had just 206 trips.
• Coach Dacko has said that she wants the team to make more free throws than the opponent takes and they are succeeding. UMass has made 231 freebies while its opponents have taken just 206 free throws.
• UMass has made more free throws than its opponents have taken in nine of the 16 games this season and 21 of the last 30 games dating back to last year.
Mills And Rosanio Pick Right Up Where They Left Off
• Juniors Kate Mills and Pam Rosanio have picked right up where they left off after All-Conference seasons in 2005-06.
• Mills began the season with consecutive double-doubles and is now averaging 15.8 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Mills is first on the team and sixth in the A-10 in points, while she is 15th in the league in rebounding and fifth in blocked shots (1.63).
• Mills scored 21 points in UMass' Jan. 9 loss at Rhode Island, her seventh career 20-points game. She has also reached double figures in each of UMass' 16 games this year.
• Mills is a 56 percent (99-176) shooter from the field, good for second in the league and 24th nationally, and 82 percent (54-66) at the free throw line, seventh in the league.
• For the second time this season, Rosanio just missed her first career double-double against Wagner (18 pts, nine rb) and is now averaging 11.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 2.7 apg.
• Rosanio scored a season-high 22 points against Northeastern Dec. 2, her fourth career 20-point game.
• She is 25th in the A-10 in scoring.
Block Party
• Both Tatham and Mills are moving up the career blocks chart as well.
• Mills is now sixth all-time at UMass with 88 blocked shots, over one a game in her career. Tatham, meanwhile, ranks 10th with 56.
• Mills is tied for third in the A-10 this year with 26 blocked shots, an average of 1.86 a game.