Dec. 28, 2010
AMHERST, Mass. -
The UMass women's basketball team will head north in search of its third straight victory on Wednesday, Dec. 29, as the squad will be in action at Maine, its first game coming out of the holiday break. Fresh off exciting wins over Wagner and Miami (Ohio) at home, the Minutewomen (3-9) will be taking on the Black Bears (1-10) at 7 p.m. in Alfond Arena in Orono.
Scouting Maine
The Black Bears enter Wednesday's game with a record of 1-10 on the season, their lone win coming against Bryant on Nov. 19, 74-66. Maine has lost its last nine straight games and is 0-4 at home this season.
Samatha Wheeler is averaging 12.8 points per-game to lead the Black Bears and is the squad's top rebounder with 7.6 per-contest. Amber Smith follows as the only other member of the Maine squad averaging double figures with 11.8 points per-game. Ashleigh Roberts has contributed 8.8 points per-game.
The Minutewomen are 7-12 all-time against Maine, and have lost nine of the last 11 meetings, including two straight. Maine is 5-1 at home when facing the Minutewomen.
UMass Against The America East
Albany (0-0)
Binghamton (0-1)
UMBC (0-0)
Stony Brook (0-0)
Boston University (11-12)
New Hampshire (20-16)
Maine (7-12)
Hartford (6-5)
Vermont (22-7)
Last Time Against Maine
Despite three players scoring in double figures, the UMass women's basketball team was unable to stop Maine's offensive efforts as the squad fell 65-49 on Jan. 3, 2010 at the Mullins Center, the first of three straight at home to begin the New Year.
Sophomore Kristina Danella was the top point-getter for UMass, totaling 12 along with four rebounds and one block. Classmate Nicole Jones followed with 11 points, aided by 3-for-6 shooting and a 5-for-6 performance at the free throw line, and also brought down a squad-best seven rebounds. The final Minutewomen in double figures, freshman Jasmine Watson, tallied 10 points, five boards, two steals and one block.
Redshirt junior Megan Zullo contributed nine points and three assists, senior Diatiema Hill handed out four assists and senior Kim Benton passed out three helpers and notched two steals.
Maine led 5-0 from the start of the contest and went up by as many as eight in the first half, on a basket by Amanda Tewksbury with 6:21 remaining in the period. Before the Black Bears could pull away any further, five straight points by Danella kick-started a 10-1 UMass run over a span of 2:32. Zullo then capped off the stretch with a three from the top of the arc, giving the Minutewomen their first and only lead of the afternoon, 23-22 with 3:36 left in the opening half. Maine then responded by closing out the fame with eight unanswered points to take a 30-23 lead into the intermission.
The Black Bears expanded its margin to 16 over UMass in the first six minutes of the second period. Then with 13:55 on the clock, the Minutewomen caught fire as a layup by Danella began a stretch of 7:51 that saw the squad outscore Maine, 17-2. Hill drove to the basket for a layup with 5:36 remaining to pull the Minutewomen to within one of the Black Bears at 48-44. However, that was as close as UMass could get to overtaking Maine, who responded by scoring the next 13 straight to put the game away.
The Black Bears shot 46.9% (23-49) on the afternoon, including 6-for-13 (46.2%) from three-point range, compared to 31.4% (16-51) from the field for the Minutewomen and 25.0% (5-for-20) from three-point range. Uncharacteristically, UMass shot 66.7% (12-for-18) at the free throw line, while Maine sunk 13-for-16 (81.3%) from the charity stripe. The Black Bears finished with a 37-31 edge in rebounds, 12-7 in second chance points, 19-14 in points off turnovers and 26-20 in points in the paint.
Tewksbury shot 7-for-13 and was 6-for-6 at the line to lead Maine with a game-high 24 points and also chipped in nine rebounds. Kristin Baker tallied 15 points, six assists and four steals. Samantha Wheeler and Katia Bratishko added eight points apiece, along with totals of 10 and nine rebounds, respectively.
Comeback Kids
On Dec.19, the Minutewomen overcame a 17-point second half deficit to defeat Wagner, 79-62. UMass trailed 57-40 with 14:12 to play in the contest and were still down by double-digits, 69-58, with 4:55 remaining. The Minutewomen scored the last 14 points of the game, including nine from sophomore Shakia Robinson.
It marked the largest second half deficit overcome in a UMass victory since the team rallied from down 20 with 16:08 left against Manhattan on Nov. 16, 2008, to pull out a 71-68 win. The program's last comeback of 15+ in a win prior to that contest was against Providence on Dec. 11, 1993, when the team went from down 18 at the 19-minute mark of the second half to defeat the Friars, 82-80.
For just the fourth time in the past 17 years, UMass accomplished the feat again in its next game against Miami (Ohio), rallying to win 78-72 after trailing the RedHawks by 17, 26-9, with 9:53 left in the first half. The Minutewomen outscored Miami, 50-35 following the intermission, the first time the squad put up 50 in a half since Nov. 17, 2007 against Northeastern.
UMass is the only team in the A-10 this season to win a game in which it has trailed by 15 or more points.
Fab Five
Senior Cerie Mosgrove (18), sophomore Dee Montgomery (16), sophomore Jasmine Watson (12), sophomore Shakia Robinson (11) and senior Megan Zullo (10) all scored in double figures against Miami (Ohio). It marked first time since Dec. 10, 2005 at Syracuse that five UMass players finished with 10+ points.
Mosgrove, Montgomery, Watson and Zullo were all in the starting lineup against the RedHawks, while Robinson added a spark off the bench.
Home Sweet Home
The Minutewomen have played their best basketball in the confines of the Mullins Center this season as all three of the squad's victories have come at home where the squad has posted a record of 3-3.
As a team, UMass is shooting 45.2% (146-for-323) at home and is averaging 69.2 points per-game. In the Mullins Center, the Minutewomen are 38.6% (44-for-114) from three-point range and 71.2% (79-for-111) at the free throw line with six players above 80% and four who are perfect at the line this season.
Triple Threat
Continuing its reputation as one of the best three-point shooting teams in the Atlantic 10, UMass was ranked in the top-40 nationally in the most recent NCAA statistics report for both three-point field goal percentage (11th) and three-point field goals per-game (39th).
In the Atlantic 10, the Minutewomen are first in three-point percentage (.384), having made 86-of-224, and are second in threes per-game (7.2).
10's Treys
Senior Megan Zullo is having a career year from beyond the arc and was second in the nation in three-point percentage in the most recent NCAA statistics report.
Zullo is second in the Atlantic 10 in threes per-game with 31 to her credit in 12 games for a 2.6 average and is second in three-point percentage (.470, 31-for-66). She is well on pace to eclipse her total of 54 in 29 games last season.
In less than 1 1/2 seasons with the Minutewomen, Zullo has already cracked the top-10 in career three pointers, 10th in program history with 85. She also stands third in career three-point percentage at .394 (85-216).
Welcome Back
Sophomore Jasmine Watson saw her first action of the season on Dec. 8 at Boston University and had nine points less than seven minutes into the contest. Watson finished just shy of a double-double with 13 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. The center also hit her first career three-pointer in the contest.
Dating back to last season, Watson has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 21 games she has played, including three of four this year.
On Dec. 19, Watson helped the Minutewomen defeat Wagner, chipping in 14 points in 24 minutes. She also matched her career high of six blocks in that contest, which ranks tied for fifth all-time at UMass for a single game. She followed up by posting her third career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Miami (Ohio).
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.
A Little Help From My Friends
Against Boston College on Dec. 5, the Minutewomen handed out 26 assists on 29 baskets, the most since the program record of 28 in a game was set on Dec. 6, 2004, against Toledo.
Individually, Megan Zullo is third in the Atlantic 10 in assists per-game with a 4.6 average and began the week ranked 69th nationally. She currently has 51 in 11 games after handing out 72 in 29 games last season.
Four Minutewomen (Zullo, Dee Montgomery, Kelly Robinson and Abbey Lalime) have posted 5+ assist games this season, the most recent being Montgomery and Zullo with six apiece against Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 21. Both Montgomery and Zullo have logged 10+ assist games thus far in 2010-11.
As a team, UMass is second in the A-10 with an average of 16.3 assists per-game.
Robinson Earns Weekly Honors
Sophomore forward Shakia Robinson was named both co-Atlantic 10 Player of the Week and co-UMass Athlete of the Week on Dec. 6.
Robinson shared her Atlantic 10 honor with Xavier's Amber Harris after averaging 21.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 18-for-35 (72%) in a 1-1 week for the Minutewomen. It marked the first conference Player of the Week honor for UMass since Kate Mills was recognized by the league on Feb. 11, 2008.
In the Minutewomen's first victory of the season, a 78-55 win over Brown on Dec. 1, Robinson contributed 18 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes on the floor to go along with two steals.
She followed up with her first career double-double against Boston College, logging a team-leading 25 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 78.6% from the floor (11-for-14) and playing a career-high 39 minutes.
Robinson was honored again on Dec. 20 as UMass Athlete of the Week after putting up 22 points and 12 boards in the squad's 72-69 come-from-behind win over Wagner.
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 against Wagner with 12, and posted her first career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds against Boston College.
Teuscher eclipsed her career highs in points and rebounds against Boston College with 13 and seven, respectively. She recently played a career high 37 minutes against Binghamton.
Sophomore Dee Montgomery registered career highs in rebounds (6) and steals (3) against George Mason, while earning her first career start vs. Maryland. She recently played a career-high 38 minutes against Wagner and set a new personal best with 10 assists. In her second consecutive start, Montgomery poured in a career-best 16 points in a comeback win over Miami (Ohio), which included an 8-for-11 clip at thre free throw line.
Senior Stephanie Lawrence set a new career high in minutes played with 28 at Seton Hall, while Robinson played 39 minutes against BC for a new personal best.
Senior Cerie Mosgrove posted her first career 20-point game vs. Brown to set a new career high. Both Mosgrove and senior Megan Zullo surpassed their previous career rebounding highs with nine and eight, respectively against Binghamton.
Measuring Up In The Atlantic 10
Both Shakia Robinson and Megan Zullo rank among the Atlantic 10's best in several statistical categories.
Robinson entered the week ranked in the top-15 for six categories: Sixth in field goal percentage (.537, 65-for-121), 10th in rebounding (7.1), 10th in defensive rebounds (4.5), 14th in offensive rebounds (2.6), 13th in steals (1.7) and 14th in scoring (12.9)
In addition to her rankings for assists, threes and minutes played, Zullo is also 13th in scoring (13.0).
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 30+ minutes per-game. Zullo is the team leader in minutes played (39.1 average) and also ranks first in the Atlantic 10 in minutes per-game. She has been on the floor for 469 of 480 possible minutes this season.
Zullo leads the Minutewomen in scoring with 13.0 points per-game, while Robinson follows with 12.9 points per-game and Mosgrove is contributing 11.9 points per-game.
One of the three has led the team in scoring in 11 out of 12 games with Zullo and Mosgrove finishing as the leading scorer four times and Robinson three times. The trio has combined for 22 double-digit scoring performances this season, with Zullo scoring in double figures nine consecutive games.
Rookies Doing Their Part
Freshmen Talen Watson and Kelly Robinson have each seen time in the starting lineup 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. Against Boston College, Lalime logged her first five-assist game with five against the Eagles.
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 well surpassed her point total, improving from 18 last year to 155 through 12 games this season.
Junior Emilie Teuscher has posted new career highs for a season in virtually every statistical category, while 327 of her 457 career minutes have been played this season. Teuscher has 72 points in 12 games, not only surpassing her 2009-10 total of 21, but more than doubling her career total of 34 entering this season. She currently has 49 rebounds after grabbing a total of 11 through her first two campaigns with the Minutewomen.
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, and is tied for ninth-most all-time in a single game by a member of the Minutewomen.
Robinson was 8-for-10 and had 18 points in the second half alone, which equaled her point total from her entire freshman season.
Robinson is just the sixth player in program history to log a 30-point game, joining Butler, Melissa Gurile, Barbara Hebel, Julie Ready and Octavia Thomas. All five of those players finished their UMass careers with 1,400+ points and rank in the top-10 in career scoring.
The UMass single game record for points is 38, set by Gurile on Dec. 11, 1993 against Providence.
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.
Zullo's 13 assists is the most in a single game by an Atlantic 10 player thus far this season. She and teammate Dee Montgomery are two of four players to record 10 or more assists in a game this season.
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.
Upcoming show dates include: 1/3, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24.
A New Era
Sharon Dawley, the former women's basketball coach at the University of Vermont, was named as the 10th head coach in program 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 268-157 (.631) 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.
Dawley earned her first victory as UMass head coach on Dec. 1, 2010, a 78-55 win over Brown at home in the Mullins Center.
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 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 accomplishments 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 10th all-time.
Mosgrove has 115 career treys, good for fifth all-time. She also ranks fifth in career three-point attempts (334) and seventh in career three-point percentage (.344). 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 (.394) ranks third all-time, while her single season total for threes made stands third, as well. Against Quinnipiac on Dec. 6, 2009, Zullo made six treys for a career high.
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 95 career games played and 35 starts. She entered the 2009-10 season as the lone member of the team with over 1,000 minutes played and is the program's active leading scorer with 493 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.
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. 
