Minutewomen Head To Duquesne For Crucial A-10 Game

Feb. 19, 2008

AMHERST, Mass. -

UMass women's basketball (11-14, 3-7 A-10) closes a two-game road trip on Wednesday by traveling to Pittsburgh to take on the Duquesne Dukes (11-14, 2-8 A-10) in a 7 p.m. A-10 match-up at the Palumbo Center. A-10 Tournament position will be at stake, as UMass currently sits in a tie with La Salle for 12th-place in the conference standings, one game ahead of 13th-place Duquesne, with four games remaining. The top-12 teams earn a berth in the conference tournament to be held at Saint Joseph's.

The Minutewomen are coming off three-straight losses, dropping games to Rhode Island, #14/13 George Washington, and most recently, at Saint Louis, 71-65, on Saturday.

The Dukes have dropped five-straight games, most recently falling at Temple, 74-66, on Sunday.

The Minutewomen and Dukes share six common opponents this season, all coming in A-10 play. Both teams have posted 1-5 records against those opponents, with losses against Charlotte, Saint Louis, Xavier, George Washington, and Saint Joseph's, and each have a victory over Fordham.

UMass is 2-11 away from home this season, while Duquesne is 6-6 on its home court.

The game will be carried on WMUA 91.1 FM and on UMassAthletics.com with Zach Claudio and Mike Walsh calling the action. Live stats will be available via Gametracker at UMassAthletics.com, while streaming video will be on UMass All-Access.

After Wednesday's game, UMass will return home to take on Dayton in an A-10 contest on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Mullins Center.

It will be "Think Pink" Day, as UMass will be doing its part to raise breast cancer awareness and all fans are encouraged to wear pink.

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the 40th time the two teams have met in a series that dates back to 1984, with UMass holding a 21-18 advantage. The Dukes have won five of the last seven match-ups.

Last season, on Feb. 16 at the Mullins Center, the Minutewomen outscored the Dukes, 40-21, in the second half to erase a six-point halftime deficit to win, 70-57. Kate Mills turned in a great all-round performance with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks. Tamara Tatham led all scorers with 19 points, while Pam Rosanio and Alisha Tatham added 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Dukes were led by Carmen Bruce and Loui Hall with 18 points each.

UMass has lost its last five games played at Duquesne, with the last win coming on Feb. 11, 2000, 53-51.

Marnie Dacko is 3-5 in her career vs. Duquesne, all coming while coaching at UMass, while this year's senior class has posted a 2-3 record vs. the Dukes.

SCOUTING DUQUESNE

Duquesne is 11-14 overall this season and enters Wednesday's game 2-8 in A-10 play. The Dukes have lost five-straight games, at St. Bonaventure (62-61), vs. #13 George Washington (73-65), at Saint Joseph's (59-56), vs. St. Bonaventure (69-66), and at Temple (74-66). Their last win came on Jan. 27 at Fordham, 66-42. Duquesne's other A-10 win was vs. Dayton, 83-69, on Jan. 19. After starting the season 7-4, the Dukes have gone 4-10, starting with a Dec. 22 loss at Pittsburgh.

The Dukes are led by 5-4 junior guard Kristi Little at 16.9 points per game and has made 43 3-pointers this season. She is second in the A-10 in assists with 5.7 per game and leads the conference in steals with 3.4 per game. She is joined in the backcourt by 5-10 sophomore Keri Pryor, who scores 10.4 ppg, and shoots 35.5% (22-62) from behind the arc. 6-0 freshman forward Samantha Pollino leads the frontcourt with 10.4 ppg and her .517 field goal percentage is tops on the club. 6-1 freshman forward Jade Singleton leads the team in rebounding at 6.4 per game and chips in with 8.6 ppg.

The Dukes rank second in the A-10 in scoring, behind GW, with 67.9 ppg, but allow the third-most points, with 66.4 per game.

Suzie McConnell-Serio is in her first year coaching the Dukes. The 1988 Penn State alum posted a 321-86 record coaching Pittsburgh's Oakland Catholic High School for 13 seasons and leading the team to three state titles. She also coached the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2003 and 2004 and was named WNBA Coach of the Year in 2004. McConnell-Serio was a four-year starting point guard at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to four NCAA Tournaments and was a first team All-American. She led the nation in assists in 1986 and 1987 and finished her career with 1,307, an all-time record.

LAST TIME OUT

Despite Pam Rosanio scoring a game-high 24 points, UMass lost to Saint Louis, 71-65, in a slugfest that featured 13 lead changes at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center on Saturday afternoon. After trading the lead back and forth throughout the second half, the Billikens took the lead for good at the 1:20 mark. Fellow seniors Kate Mills and Alisha Tatham added 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Minutewomen. Katie Paganelli led SLU with 21 points, while Theresa Lisch added 19.

For the game, UMass outshot SLU, 50.9% (27-53) to 45.3% (24-53) and outrebounded the Billikens, 31-28, but turned the ball over 22 times to SLU's 17.

ROSANIO NEARS MILESTONES

With her next six rebounds and five assists, senior Pam Rosanio will join UMass all-time leading scorer Sue Peters (`80) as the only players in school history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 300 assists in a career.

With her 29th minute played on Wednesday, Rosanio will pass Melissa Gurile's mark of 3,737 to become the all-time UMass leader in minutes played in a career. The four-year starter has played in 111 games and started in 110 of them entering Wednesday.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Mullins Center has been extra good to the Minutewomen this season. They are 9-3 on Jack Leaman Court this season.

UMass started out a perfect 7-0 at home this season. It was their best start at home since the 1995-96 season, when UMass ran the table at home, going 12-0. They finished 20-10 that season, culminating in the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.

UMass averages over 10 points per game more at home (69.8 to 59.4) while allowing almost four fewer (63.6 to 67.5). The Minutewomen also shoot much better in the familiar surroundings, 48.4% to 41.0%. The biggest difference has been behind the 3-point arc, where they shoot 36.8% at home as opposed to 24.4% on the road.

UMass' Dec. 22 victory over Buffalo was No. 100 for the Minutewomen at the Mullins Center. They currently have a record of 104-61 (.630) on their home court since their first game there on Jan. 2, 1994 vs. Vanderbilt.

MILLS CONTINUES TO CLIMB CAREER CHARTS

Kate Mills has moved into sixth-place on the UMass all-time scoring list with 1,451 points. Mills moved past Crystal Carroll (1,405) and Julie Ready (1,406) after scoring 24 points against Rhode Island (2/9). Next up for Mills is Jennifer Butler, who posted 1,490 points in a career that spanned 1999 to 2003.

With six rebounds on Dec. 4 at St. John's, Kate Mills surpassed the 500-rebound mark for her career. She becomes the 13th player in UMass history to amass 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.

With four blocks on Dec. 15 at Wagner, Mills became just the second player in UMass history with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 150 blocks in a career. Melissa Gurile had 1,679 points, 830 rebounds, and 182 blocks in a career that spanned 1992 to 1996.

PLAYING TEAM BASKETBALL

A good sign of team basketball is high assist numbers and UMass has certainly achieved that this year. The Minutewomen are in first place in the Atlantic 10 in assists with 17.0 per game.

The assists have been coming from a variety of sources. In 25 games this season, junior point guard Sakera Young leads the team with 93. Senior Pam Rosanio is second with 86, while forward Kate Mills has 76. Sophomore point guard Kim Benton has 57 and junior guard Stefanie Gerardot rounds out the top-five with 37.

UMass had a season-high 24 assists on Dec. 8 vs. Maine with 24. They recorded an assist on 89% of their field goals that day (24-27).

The Minutewomen challenged that season-high on Feb. 7 at La Salle, Jan. 12 vs. Rhode Island and Jan. 3 vs. Longwood when they tallied 22 assists in each game.

The Minutewomen recorded an assist on 69 percent of their baskets last year.

This season, they are on an even better pace with 426 assists on 602 field goals (71%).

SHARP SHOOTERS

The Minutewomen boast the top field goal percentage in the Atlantic 10 thus far in 2007-08 with a .445 (602-1354) mark.

Two of the top-10 field goal percentages in the A-10 are owned by Minutewomen. Kate Mills is fourth in the conference at .528 (191-362) and Pam Rosanio is eighth at .507 (141-278). Only one other team has two players in the top-10 (Dayton).

UMass shooters also have put up the conference's top-five shooting performances of the season thus far. Kate Mills' 9-for-11 shooting display in her 22-point game versus Jacksonville on Nov. 23 was the best percentage in a game this season (.818). Mills and Rosanio both tied that performance on Jan. 3 vs. Longwood with 9-for-11 shooting nights. Stefanie Gerardot shot 8-of-10 in UMass' home victory over Boston College on Nov. 14 on the way to her career-high 20 points. On Dec. 11, Mills' 8-for-10 performance on the way to 18 points tied Gerardot's mark for fourth.

Pam Rosanio is tied with several players for the best performance from the free throw line in a game this season. She was a perfect 8-of-8 versus Jacksonville on Nov. 23 when she finished with 20 points.

UMass was one of the top shooting teams in the league last season. The Minutewomen finished second in the A-10 shooting 44 percent from the field and were just .005 points behind first-place Temple.

Kate Mills led the league in 2006-07, shooting .538 from the floor (193-of-359).

NEXT GAME: VS. DAYTON

The Minutewomen return to action on Saturday, when they return home to host Dayton in an A-10 match-up at the Mullins Center.

It will be the 14th time the Minutewomen and Flyers have squared off, with UMass holding a 9-4 advantage. Last season, on Feb. 22, the Minutewomen defeated Dayton, 66-58, on the road.

WMUA 91.1 FM and UMassAthletics.com will carry the game with Mike Walsh and Zach Claudio covering the action. Gametracker and streaming video will also be available at UMassAthletics.com.

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Players Mentioned

Kate Mills

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics