Nov. 30, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. -
After a grueling stretch of five straight road games, the UMass women's basketball team will make its return to the Mullins Center on Wednesday night, Dec. 1, as the squad will play host to Brown at 7 p.m. The contest against the Bears (2-4) begins a new month that will see the Minutewomen leave the state just once and includes five home games.
Scouting Brown
Brown went 8-20 last season in Jean Marie Burr's 23rd season with the Bears and is currently 2-4 on the year. The team dropped both of its games at the Iona Thanksgiving Tournament last week, falling to Iona (73-67) and UMBC (75-55). The Bears' two wins have come on the road at New Hampshire (66-54) and home vs. Bryant (57-49).
Like UMass, Brown has a young team, as the squad has no returning seniors. The Bears' leading scorer is junior Hannah Passafuime, who averages 12 points per-game. Their leading rebounder is sophomore Sheila Dixon, with 35 on the season (7.0 per-game). Dixon joins Passafuime with a double-figure scoring average, 11.2 per-contest.
The Minutewomen are 9-0 all-time against Brown, including a 69-54 win at the Brown Tournament last season.
Last Time Against Brown
With a balanced effort, the UMass women's basketball team rolled to a 69-54 victory over Brown on Dec. 9, 2009, at the Brown Bear Classic. For the fourth time in the past two seasons, the Minutewomen advance to the championship game of an in-season tournament and will play either Morgan State or Quinnipiac on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Sophomore Kristina Danella totaled 16 points to lead three UMass scorers in double figures and pulled down six rebounds. Freshman Jasmine Watson followed with 13 points, aided by perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the floor, and had seven rebounds and two blocks. Redshirt-junior Megan Zullo added 10 points, five boards and five steals and senior Kim Benton posted a career-best eight rebounds, a team-high. Also contributing off the bench for the Minutewomen, sophomore Emilie Teuscher chipped in with nine points to set a career high and went 3-for-3 from three-point range. Sophomore Nicole Jones played 15 minutes and had seven points.
Through much of the first half, the teams were evenly matched as neither side led by more than four. Then with 6:36 left in the period, Danella drained a three to spark an 18-5 run for UMass, which included 11 points from the sophomore forward. With the score tied at 17, Danella hit another trey at the 4:18 mark that put the Minutewomen in front for good. She followed up with a pair of free throws for the squad's next two points and hit two more with 2.6 seconds remaining to give UMass a 32-21 edge at halftime.
A three by Hanna Passafuime at the 13:21 mark of the second half brought the Bears back to within eight, but that was as close as Brown would come. The Minutewomen led by as many as 25 and no fewer than 15 over the final 10 minutes of the contest.
UMass, shot 47.6% (10-21) in the opening half, including 5-13 (38.5%) from three after rebounding from an 0-5 start beyond the arc. The Minutewomen finished 18-for-42 (42.9%) overall, 10-for-27 (37.0%) from three and 23-for-36 (63.9%) at the free throw line. Brown shot 19-for-52 (36.5%), 7-for-19 (36.8%) from three-point range and 9-for-14 at the charity stripe. UMass' bench contributed 46 points, compared to 14 for the Bears.
Passafuime totaled a game-high 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was the lone scorer for Brown with more than 10. Natalie Bonds logged nine rebounds and Courtney Lee compiled eight points and four assists.
15 For 30
Sophomore Shakia Robinson poured in 30 points on Nov. 28 at East Carolina, shooting 13-for-19 and 4-6 at the free throw line. It not only marked a career high for Robinson, but was the first 30-point game for a UMass player since Jen Butler had 31 against Temple on Jan 6, 2003.
Robinson was 8-for-10 and had 18 points in the second half alone, which equaled her point total from her entire freshman season.
The UMass single game record for points is 38, set by Melissa Gurile on Dec. 11, 1993 against Providence.
Reaching New Heights
Returning players Shakia Robinson and Emilie Teuscher both made their first career starts in the season opener against George Mason. Robinson set new career high in steals (5) and scored in double figures for the first time. It also was a first for Robinson leading the team in scoring and rebounding. She improved upon her career high in rebounds just three games later, hauling in 11 boards at Seton Hall.
Teuscher matched a career high with nine points in the season opener and set a career-best with six rebounds at East Carolina.
Sophomore Dee Montgomery registered career highs in rebounds (6) and steals (3) against George Mason, while earning her first career start vs. Maryland and playing a personal best 27 minutes against the Terps.
Three players set career highs in minutes played at Seton Hall, Robinson and Teuscher with 36 and senior Stephanie Lawrence with 28.
Senior Cerie Mosgrove corralled a career high eight rebounds at East Carolina and matched her career high in points (19).
True Minute Women
Seniors Cerie Mosgrove and Megan Zullo and sophomore Shakia Robinson have been fixtures on the floor for UMass this season, all averaging 32+ minutes per-game. Zullo is the team leader in minutes played (38.8 average) and has been on the floor for 233 of 240 possible minutes this season.
Zullo and Mosgrove lead the Minutewomen in scoring with 11.3 points per-game, while Robinson follows close behind with 11.2 points per-game.
Zullo has led the team in scoring three times this season and has been in double figures three-straight times, including a career-best 25 points against Seton Hall. She boasts a team-best 26 assists, as well. Mosgrove totaled a team-high 17 points against George Mason.
Rookies Doing Their Part
Freshmen Talen Watson and Kelly Robinson have each started two games this season. Watson began her career by scoring six points against George Mason. Another freshman, Sara English, came off the bench in that contest to make her first appearance in a UMass uniform.
In game two at Providence, Watson, English and Robinson, joined by classmate Abbey Lalime, combined for half of the team's point total. Led by Watson's team-best 11 points, the group registered 24 points against the Friars. Lalime had six points in her collegiate debut.
English managed seven points in six minutes against LSU. Lalime posted her first double-figure scoring performance with 11 at East Carolina while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing three assists.
What A Difference A Year Makes
Sophomore Shakia Robinson passed her freshman year playing total of 139 minutes just five games into the 2010-11 season. She passed her 2009-10 rebound total (27) five games in, as well, and has more than tripled her rookie year point total, currently with 67 points.
Junior Emilie Teuscher has posted new career highs for a season in virtually every statistical category, while 153 of her 283 career minutes have been played this season. Teuscher has 36 points in six games, not only surpassing her 2009-10 total of 21, but besting her career total of 34 entering this season. She currently has 21 rebounds after grabbing a total of 11 through her first two campaigns with the Minutewomen.
Zullo Sets Mullins Assist Record
Senior Megan Zullo recorded a remarkable 13 assists on 21 UMass baskets (19 possible assist opportunities since two field goals in the contest were her own), setting a new women's Mullins Center record for a single game on Nov. 12 vs. George Mason. Her previous career high was seven against Fordham on Feb. 6, 2010.
The total is second all-time in program history for a single game, trailing only her aunt, the late Christel Zullo, who dished 15 assists against Temple on Feb. 14, 1986.
The previous Mullins Center record was last set by Diatiema Hill during the 2009-10 season with 11 assists on Senior Day vs. Saint Joseph's.
UMass Women's Basketball Radio Show On WMUA
Throughout the 2010-11 season, catch up on what's going on with the Minutewomen as WMUA broadcasters John Windheim and Matt Lopes talk with head coach Sharon Dawley and other special guests from the UMass women's basketball team on the UMass Women's Basketball Coach's Show, Mondays from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on WMUA 91.1 FM and www.wmua.org.
Dates for December include: 12/6, 12/13 and 12/20.
A New Era
Sharon Dawley, the former women's basketball coach at the University of Vermont, was named as the 10th head coach in progam history on April 6, 2010. Dawley joins Minutewomen after a highly successful tenure with the Catamounts that included two consecutive America East titles (2008-09 and 2009-10) and three straight postseason berths.
In seven seasons at Vermont, Dawley posted a mark of 128-86 (.598) and holds a career record of 265-154 (.632) in her 17th season as a head coach. She became the winningest coach in Vermont women's basketball history when the Catamounts upset No. 7-seed Wisconsin in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on March, 21, 2010, the program's first NCAA tournament victory.
A native of Revere, Mass., Dawley was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in October of 2009.
The Supporting Cast
Joining head coach Sharon Dawley on the sidelines are Steve Lanpher, Jen MacAulay, Morgan Valley and Alison Brown.
Both Lanpher and MacAulay came to UMass from Vermont along with Dawley, while Brown was one of Dawley's former players at UVM. Lanpher's background includes 10 years of head coaching experience and nearly 20 seasons overall.
Valley is a native of Vermont, but joins Dawley's staff from Towson. She was a member of three NCAA national championship teams at the University of Connecticut and won two BIG EAST titles while playing for the Huskies from 2000-04. She helped the squad to a four-year record of 139-8.
From Near And Far
UMass' 13-player roster is comprised of individuals from 11 different states and provinces. Senior Cerie Mosgrove is the lone representative from the state of Massachusetts, hailing from Needham.
Megan Zullo and Millie Niggeling are the first Minutewomen in program history from their respective home states of North Carolina and Iowa.
New Faces
The Minutewomen have welcomed six new players to the fold this fall: freshman guards Abbey Lalime, Kelly Robinson and Talen Watson, freshmen centers Sara English and Millie Niggeling and sophomore guard Carolann Cloutier.
Among the high school accompishments of this group, Talen Watson helped Arundel High School to a state title, Lalime was tabbed the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year and Niggeling won two state championships at Bishop Heelan High School.
Cloutier, a transfer from Old Dominion, played with Team Canada at the World University games before college.
Both Cloutier and Niggeling with redshirt the 2010-11, season, Cloutier's is per-NCAA transfer rules.
Three Party
The 2010-11 UMass roster contains three of the best three-point shooters in program history as seniors Stephanie Lawrence, Cerie Mosgrove and Megan Zullo all have etched their names into the UMass record book in various three-point shooting categories.
Lawrence sunk 20 of 52 shots from beyond the arc in 2009-10, for a .385 shooting percentage. Her single season mark from a year ago stands eighth all-time.
Mosgrove has 103 career treys, good for sixth all-time. She also ranks seventh in career three-point attempts (308) and ninth in career three-point percentage (.334). Mosgrove registered 51 threes as a sophmomore in 2008-09, fifth-most all-time for a single season.
Zullo was the UMass leader with 54 three-pointers last season, shooting 54-for-150 (.360) from beyond the arc. Her career percentage (.368) ranks fourth all-time for a career, while her single season total for threes made stands third. Against Quinnipiac on Dec. 6, 2009, Zullo made six treys for a career high. She leads the team this season with 13 threes and is shooting 40.6% from beyond the arc.
Youth-Full Roster
Nine of the 13 players on the Minutewomen roster are either freshmen or sophomores, accounting for nearly 70% of the team.
Senior Cerie Mosgrove is the squad's most tenured player with 89 career games played and 29 starts. She is the lone member of the team with over 1,000 minutes played. She is the program's active leading scorer with 418 points.
Just four players on the UMass roster had seen time in the starting lineup prior to the 2010-11 season. Megan Zullo and Jasmine Watson, the team's two returning starters, both played their first campaigns with the Minutewomen last season.
Center Of Attention
Sophomore Jasmine Watson, UMass' top returning scorer, was named to the preseason Atlantic 10 third team this fall.
The league's reigning Rookie of the Year, Watson played in all 30 games in 2009-10, starting the final 16. She finished second on the squad in scoring last season with 307 points, an average of 10.2 per-game, and brought down a team-best 176 rebounds (5.9 per-game). She also registered 38 blocks for an average of 1.3 per-game.
Watson, who was named A-10 Rookie of the Week a school-record four times, finished her rookie campaign as the leading freshman scorer in the Atlantic 10. In conference play, Watson averaged a team-best 13.0 points per-game to rank 10th in the conference.
The center scored in double figures 16 times in 2009-10 and had two 20-point games and two double-doubles, including a season-high 21 points against Fordham on Feb. 6. She was the team's leading scorer on six occasions and the leading rebounder 11 times.
Watson is just the third player in program history to log 300+ points and 150+ rebounds as a freshman. She joins Melissa Gurile and Octavia Thomas in that elite group. Both Gurile and Thomas finished their UMass careers with 1,500+ points and 800+ rebounds.
Challenging Road Ahead
The Minutewomen's 2010-11 schedule features tough competition from the ACC, America East, BIG EAST, Colonial, Conference USA, Ivy, Mid-American, Northeast, Patriot and SEC before beginning the always-challenging Atlantic 10 schedule.
Out of UMass' 28 opponents, 14 are coming off 2010 postseason appearances in the NCAA and WNIT. According to Realtimerpi.com, the Minutewomen entered the season with the 39th-toughest schedule out of 347 Division I teams.
Emily Mital Signs With UMass
Head coach Sharon Dawley has announced that Emily Mital, a 5-8 point guard/shooting guard out of Frisco Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, has signed a National Letter of Intent during the November early signing period, and will be a part of UMass' Class of 2015.
A four-year captain and starter under head coach Mari Harrison, Mital has led Frisco Liberty in scoring each season heading into her senior year and helped the squad to the Texas UIL playoffs her during freshman and sophomore seasons.
Entering her final campaign with Frisco Liberty, Mital was named to the 2010-11 Texas Basketball Magazine Pre-Season All-State Team as the best returning three-point shooter in the state after draining 82 treys as a junior.
Mital led her district in scoring in both 2009-10 and 2008-09, with 17.0 points per-game and 17.3 points per-game, respectively. She also chipped in 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 3.1 assists per-game as a junior on her way to a second straight TABC 4A Region 2 All-Region selection and a third straight first team all-district honor. Mital was recognized with both pre-and post-season all-state accolades from Texas Basketball Magazine in 2009-10, as well.
The three-time academic all-district honoree was tabbed the District 9-3A Newcomer of the Year in 2007-08 and earned a spot on the All-Collin County third team after posting 11.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.4 assists per-game as a freshman.
Mital has been named to several all-tournament teams in her high school career and has ranked second in Texas UIL (public school, all classifications) for free throw percentage the past two seasons. She holds Frisco Liberty's records for total points, career and season scoring average, career two-point field goals, career three-point field goals, career free throws, career assists and points in a game.
Grandison Inks NLI To Join Umass
Head coach Sharon Dawley has announced that 5-10 forward Ronni Grandison has inked a National Letter of Intent to join the Minutewomen in 2011-12. Grandison will come to UMass out of Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio, and is the second signee for Dawley during the November early signing period.
Grandison, who is coached by Andy Fishman, was named to the Greater Miami Conference second team last season and was selected as a District 15 All-Star after averaging 7.3 points per game as a junior in 2009-10. She shot 23-for-57 (40.4%) from three-point range and 39-for-52 (75%) at the free throw line to lead the Lakota West Firebirds last season, which ranked her second and fourth in Butler County in each respective category.
Grandison plays AAU ball with the highly successful Cincinnati Heat, coached by Krista Doan. She is the daughter of Barb and Ronnie Grandison. Her father, Ronnie, played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets. ing average, career two-point field goals, career three-point field goals, career free throws, career assists and points in a game.
Dawley Adds Timbilla To List Of Signees
Rashida Timbilla, a 6-1 forward from Nepan, Ontario, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Minutewomen during the November early signing period, UMass women's basketball head coach Sharon Dawley announced on Nov. 18. Timbilla joins Emily Mital and Ronni Grandison as the third member of UMass' Class of 2015.
Timbilla played with the Canadian Junior National Team this past summer that captured bronze at the 18U Tournament of the Americas.
As member of the Kanata Cavs, coached by Dean Tanasijevic, Timbilla helped her squad to a record of 22-5 and a No. 5 ranking in the province. In 2009-10, Timbilla averaged 20.4 points, 14.4 rebounds (6.1 offensive), 7.8 assists, 3.1 blocks and 2.8 steals per-game. She played an average of 27 minutes per-contest and posted a 74% free throw percentage, as well.
Timbilla was also a four-year varsity field hockey player for John McCrae Secondary School, helping the team to a National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association title in 2010 and an undefeated record in the regular season.
She is the daughter of Bawah and Adiza Timbilla.
Rodney Signs NLI To Play Basketball At Umass
Aisha Rodney of Grosse Pointe South High School in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball at UMass, head coach Sharon Dawley announced on Nov. 22. The 6-0 power forward inked her NLI during the November early signing period and joins Emily Mital, Ronni Grandison and Rashida Timbilla as the fourth member of UMass' Class of 2015.
Rodney enters her senior season as a three-time all-state and all-conference player under head coach Kevin Richards at Grosse Pointe South. She averaged 16.4 points per-game and was the team's top rebounder with 12 boards per-game last season, leading her squad to a third-straight conference championship, while earning her second team MVP honor. Rodney holds the school's scoring record and was tabbed Grosse Pointe South's rookie of the year as a freshman. The McDonald's All-American Nominee is ranked 52nd at her position by Hoopgurlz.
Rodney plays club basketball with the Michigan Crossovers, coached by Emez Oliver and Dena Head. She helped the Crossovers to the semifinals at Nike Nationals, the furthest any team from Michigan has ever advanced in the tournament.
Rodney is the daughter of Antje and Lorenzo Rodney. 
