University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Duquesne Friday On Youth Team Night
February 15, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2007
Minutewomen Look For Third Straight Win Friday Night Against Duquesne
• UMass (14-11, 4-6 Atlantic 10) hosts Duquesne (7-16, 2-8) Friday night at the Mullins Center in the middle game of its three-game homestand.
• With its back to back wins and victories in four out of the last six contests, the Minutewomen are right back in the thick of the wild Atlantic 10 race.
• Duquesne, meanwhile, has lost seven games in a row and 13 of 15 since starting the year 5-3.
• Friday's game in Youth Team Night. All youth teams and coaches in recognizable apparel will receive half-price admission.
• Massachusetts holds a 20-18 lead in the series with Duquesne, but has lost five of the last six games and seven out of nine. Duquesne won both meetings last year including a wild 56-51 upset of the Minutewomen in the A-10 Tournament (see box score on page two).
• UMass is 13-3 all-time against the Dukes at home, including a 6-1 mark at the Mullins Center.
• UMass is coming off a 79-49 win over Rhode Island at the Mullins Center last Sunday. Freshman Kim Benton scored a career-high 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range, a new UMass Mullins Center record for three balls.
• The Minutewomen used a 35-10 run in less than 10 minutes of the second half to turn a five-point halftime lead into a blow-out. UMass outscored the Rams 49-24 in the second half and shot a season-high .547 from the field and had 20 assists on 29 field goals.
• Kate Mills had 15 points and three blocked shots while Tamara Tatham added 14 points and seven rebounds.
• Both Pam Rosanio and Sakera Young dished out six assists.
Tatham Reaches 1,000; Rosanio And Mills Closing In
• 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 12th in UMass history with her 1,117 points.
• She was presented with a ball commemorating her milestone during the first half of the Jan. 18 Tempe game.
• Juniors Pam Rosanio and Kate Mills are also quickly moving up the career ranks.
• Rosanio needs 54 more points to break 1,000 for her career while Mills is 88 away.
• Rosanio is 18th with her 946 career points and Mills ranks 21st with 912 points.
• The only other time two UMass players have gotten their 1,000th point in the same season was 1994-95.
• Both Octavia Thomas and Melissa Gurile accomplished this feat.
• Three players have never scored their 1000th-point in the same season though.
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.
• The Minutewomen then beat Rhode Island by 30 points, 79-49, on Feb. 11 at the Mullins Center marking the first time the team has had two 30-point wins in the same season since 1980-81.
• UMass beat Vermont 105-74 on Dec. 13, 2980 and then Maine by a 97-62 score on Jan. 14, 1981.
Tamara's A Thief
• Tamara Tatham is now sixth in the A-10 with 1.96 spg.
• Tatham posted a career-high tying six steals Jan. 3 against Holy Cross and now has 180 in her career which is fifth in UMass history.
Double, Double-Double
• For the first time in nearly five years, two UMass players posted a double-double in the same game.
• Both Tamara Tatham and Kate Mills tallied a double-double against La Salle on Jan. 22. Mills had 14 points and 10 rebounds while Tatham chipped in with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
• The last time this happened was on March 2, 2002 against Richmond in the A-10 Tournament. Amber Sneed had 16 points and 14 rebounds while Jennifer Butler had 15 points and 10 boards.
Oh So Close
• Massachusetts has had a second-half lead in six of its 11 losses this year. This includes a lead in the last five minutes in four of those contests.
• The Minutewomen have enjoyed a lead of at least a basket in the second half against Charlotte (led by 11 with 17:50 left and two with 11:15 left), Temple (led by two with 3:09 left), Richmond (led by four with 14:17 left), Rhode Island (led by four with 2:44 left), Boston College (led by six midway through the second half and two with 2:03 left) and Delaware (led by six with 4:29 left).
• In addition, the Minutewomen cut a 13-point deficit against Yale to two points with 9:45 left but could not get any closer.
• They also recently knocked a 12-point Saint Joseph's lead down to three on Feb. 2, but could not get closer.
Solid At The Line
• UMass made its first 17 free throws at Rhode Island Jan. 9 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 third in the A-10 this year shooting 83 percent (79-95) 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.
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.
• 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.
• At 14-11, UMass has surpassed its win total from last year (11-17).
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 second in the A-10 averaging 15.80 assists a game and are fifth with a 0.90 assist to turnover ratio.
• The assists have come from very unlikely spots though. The Minutewomen's starting front court has combined for 195 assists while the back court has just 98.
• 6-1 center/forward Tamara Tatham leads the team and is now 13th in the A-10 with 3.00 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.
Beware The BullDog
• Freshman Kim Benton, the "BullDog," earned her first career start Dec. 10 at Buffalo and responded with back-to-back career games. She poured in a then-career-high 15 points against Buffalo (Dec. 10) and Eastern Michigan (Dec. 13).
• Benton got her career-high of 18 points on Feb. 11 against Rhode Island. She set a new UMass Mullins Center record with six three-pointers. The previous record was four by several players.
• For the season, she is fourth on the team averaging 6.4 ppg and is eighth in the league averaging 1.76 three-pointers a game and 15th shooting .355 (44-124) from downtown.
All-Around Tatham
• After a 12-point and 12-rebound effort against La Salle on Jan. 22, Tamara Tatham now has seven double-doubles this season after posting just six in her first three seasons.
• She is tied for second in the A-10 this year with the seven 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 18th in scoring (12.6 ppg), second in rebounding (9.0 rpg), ninth in field goal percentage (.498), 13th in assists (3.00), sixth in steals (1.96), 15th in assist to turnover ratio (0.77), tied for 10th in offensive rebounds (2.40) and second in defensive rebounds (6.56).
On Target
• UMass has quietly become the top shooting team in the league. The Minutewomen are currently tied for first in the A-10 shooting 44 percent (578-1301) from the field.
• Kate Mills is third in the league shooting 54 percent (156-289) from the floor, while Tamara Tatham is ninth at 50 percent (122-245).
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).
• UMass currently ranks third in the league in scoring defense (59.2 ppg) and third in field goal percentage defense (.376). They are also third in three-point field goal defense (.306).
• UMass has allowed 50 or fewer points 10 times this year, including the last two games and four of its last six. Those four games were all wins.
Younger Sister Looks Good
• Junior Alisha Tatham scored 10 second-half points, including eight in a row and 10 of 12 during a key 14-2 UMass run to take control of the game Jan. 26 against Saint Louis.
• For the season, Tatham is fifth on the team averaging 5.7 ppg and has started every game as the team's top defender. Tatham is usually defending the opposition's top scorer.
Gerardot Has 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.
• Gerardot also recently scored 15 points in a loss at Saint Joseph's (Feb. 2) and turned that into her first start of the season Feb. 4 at St. Bonaventure.
• Against the Bonnies, Gerardot tallied nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range.
• For the season, Gerardot is sixth on the team averaging 4.5 ppg.
Mullins Magic
• Despite having its 10-game Mullins Center winning streak snapped by Delaware Dec. 17, Massachusetts has still won 37 of its last 58 games at home, a .638 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.
Mills And Rosanio Continue All-Conference Seasons
• 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 15.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg. She is first on the team and eighth in the A-10 in points, while 17th in the league in rebounding and second in blocks (2.08).
• Mills scored 23 points in UMass' Jan. 18 loss vs. Temple, her eighth career 20-point game and just one off her career-high. She has also reached double figures in each of UMass' 25 games this year.
• For the third time this season, Rosanio just missed her first career double-double against Saint Louis (20 pts, nine rb) and is now averaging 11.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 2.5 apg.
• She tied a career-high with 24 points Jan. 28 against Charlotte, her second straight 20-point outing and sixth of her career.
• She is 22nd in the A-10 in scoring.
• Rosanio suffered a concussion Jan. 14 at No. 12/14 George Washington and missed the nest game vs. Temple, the first time in her career that she had missed a game.
• Rosanio responded by averaging 19.3 ppg and 7.7 rpg in the three games after returning.
Block Party
• Both Tatham and Mills are moving up the career blocks chart as well.
• Mills is now fourth all-time at UMass with 114 blocked shots, over one a game in her career.
Tatham, meanwhile, is ninth with 59.
• Mills blocked a career-high and Mullins Center record seven shots Jan. 26 against Saint Louis.