University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Hosts Rhode Island Sunday At 2:00
February 06, 2007 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2007
Minutewomen Host Rhode Island on National Girls & Women In Sport Day
• UMass (13-11, 3-6 Atlantic 10) opens up a three-game homestand in a huge conference tilt against Rhode Island (6-17, 4-5) Sunday afternoon at the Mullins Center.
• The Minutewomen are looking to avenge a tough 71-69 overtime loss against the Rams last month at the Ryan Center (see box score on page two). In the new league scheduling format, Rhode Island is the only team that UMass plays twice.
• Entering this week, UMass stood in 11th place in the league but were within two and a half games of fourth place in a wild A-10 race.
• UMass has partnered with the Women's Sports Foundation to celebrate the 21st annual National Girl's & Women In Sport Day. Prior to the game, UMass will hold a clinic with several of its female teams for kids at the Boyden Gym. Those participants will then receive a free ticket to the game.
• Despite the loss in January, UMass still leads the all-time series against Rhode Island, 31-28. The Rams have won seven ofthe last eight games, including five in a row at the Mullins Center.
• UMass is 13-15 all-time against the Rams at home.
Last Time Out
• A pair of free throws by Kate Mills with 3.8 seconds left sealed a 53-49 win for Massachusetts (13-11, 3-6 A-10) over St. Bonaventure (13-10, 3-5) Sunday afternoon.
• UMass missed four free throws in the last 20 seconds to give the Bonnies two chances to tie or win the game.
• Mills finished with a game-high 18 points and also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots. UMass made 10 of 12 shots at one point from the end of the first half to the beginning of the season half and had a 17-3 run to take the lead for good early in the second half.
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 13th in UMass history with her 1,103 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 63 more points to break 1,000 for her career while Mills is 103 away.
• Rosanio is 18th with her 937 career points and Mills ranks 21st with 8697points.
• 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.
Tamara's A Thief
• Tamara Tatham is now eighth in the A-10 with 1.92 spg.
• Tatham posted a career-high tying six steals Jan. 3 against Holy Cross and now has 173 in her career which is tied for 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.
The Quartet
• UMass has had four, double-figure scorers in seven of the last 15 games.
• Kate Mills has done it each game and has actually posted at least 10 points in every one of the team's 24 games.
• Here is a list of who has reached double-figures during the streak:
Kate Mills: 15
Tamara Tatham: 13
Pam Rosanio: 7
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 fourth in the A-10 this year shooting 84 percent (76-91) 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 13-11, 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 15.63 assists a game and are fifth with a 0.89 assist to turnover ratio.
• The assists have come from very unlikely spots though. The Minutewomen's starting front court has combined for 186 assists while the back court has just 91.
• 6-1 center/forward Tamara Tatham leads the team and is now 13th in the A-10 with 3.08 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 career-high 15 points against Buffalo (Dec. 10) and Eastern Michigan (Dec. 13).
• For the season, she is fourth on the team averaging 5.9 ppg and is 11th in the league averaging 1.58 three-pointers a game.
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 19th in scoring (12.5 ppg), tied for first in rebounding (9.0 rpg), 12th in field goal percentage (.487), 13th in assists (3.08), eighth in steals (1.92), 15th in assist to turnover ratio (0.78), ninth in offensive rebounds (2.50) and second in defensive rebounds (6.54).
On Target
• UMass has quietly become the top shooting team in the league. The Minutewomen are currently first in the A-10 and 33rd nationally shooting 44 percent (549-1248) from the field.
• Kate Mills is third in the league shooting 54 percent (150-277) from the floor, while Tamara Tatham is 12th at 49 percent (116-238).
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 fourth in the league in scoring defense (59.7 ppg) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (.378). They are also third in three-point field goal defense (.303).
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 5.8 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 4.6 ppg.
Mullins Magic
• Despite having its 10-game Mullins Center winning streak snapped by Delaware Dec. 17, Massachusetts has still won 36 of its last 57 games at home, a .632 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 15.7 ppg and 6.5 rpg. She is first on the team and eighth in the A-10 in points, while tied for 16th in the league in rebounding and second in blocks (2.04).
• 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' 24 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 11.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 2.4 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 tied for fourth all-time at UMass with 111 blocked shots, over one a game in her career.
Tatham, meanwhile, is tied tied for ninth with 58.
• Mills blocked a career-high and Mullins Center record seven shots Jan. 26 against Saint Louis.