Nov. 30, 2011
FAIRFAX, Va. -
The UMass women's basketball team continues its stint away from the Mullins Center on Thursday night, Dec. 1, when the squad will pay a visit to George Mason for a 7 p.m. tip. Currently 1-5 on the season, the Minutewomen will be looking to snap the Patriots' (4-1) four-game winning streak.
Scouting George Mason
George Mason enters Thursday's matchup at 4-1 on the year and is coming off four straight wins after dropping its season opener to American, 55-51.
Taleia Moton leads the Patriots with an average of 21.6 points per-game on the season and has started all five contests. Amber Easter is also averaging double figures in scoring at 11.8 points per-game. Rahneeka Saunders is the team's top rebounder (7.4 per-game) and has been chipping in 8.6 points-per game.
George Mason is +12.4 in scoring margin on the year and is shooting 43.3% from the field.
UMass Against The CAA (22-25)
Delaware (0-5)
James Madison (0-2)
George Mason (0-1)
Hofstra (2-2)
Towson (2-0)
Drexel (0-0)
VCU (1-0)
William & Mary (1-1)
Georgia State (0-1)
UNC Wilmington (0-0)
Old Dominion (0-0)
Northeastern (16-13)
Series History
Tuesday's game will be the second meeting of UMass and George Mason. The Patriots won the first and only previous game, 60-55 in the Mullins Center last season on Nov. 12, head coach Sharon Dawley's debut with the Minutewomen.
Last Time Against George Mason
In a nip-and-tuck game, George Mason pulled out a 60-55 victory in Sharon Dawley's debut as UMass head coach on Nov. 12, 2010, at the Mullins Center. Senior Cerie Mosgrove paced UMass with 17 points and grabbed six rebounds.
In her first career start, sophomore Shakia Robinson more than doubled her career high with nine points in the first half, including a 4-4 showing from the floor. She finished with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, while chipping in a team-high eight rebounds and five steals.
Senior Megan Zullo set a Mullins Center record with 13 assists, the second-best single game total in program history, trailing only her aunt, Christel Zullo's school record of 15 against Temple in 1986. Zullo added six points for the Minutewomen, as well.
In her first career start, junior Emilie Teuscher matched her career high with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting, including a 3-for-5 clip from beyond the arc. Freshman Talen Watson also earned her first collegiate start and tallied six points in her UMass debut.
A three from Taleia Moton opened the scoring at 18:48, giving the Patriots a lead they would not relinquish for the majority of the half. The Minutewomen remained within four points of George Mason until hitting a four-minute scoring drought. During that stretch, the Patriots went on a 9-0 run to build their largest lead of the game, 11, at 22-11. However, the UMass managed to close the gap, ending the half with seven straight points to pull within 24-20 at the intermission.
Watson began the second half with the first basket of her career, a fast break layup. Mosgrove then gave UMass its first lead of the contest, 25-24, draining a three from the top of the key on the Minutewomen's next possession. Teuscher hit UMass' third straight trey to increase the lead to 31-26, before George Mason responded with the next two baskets to tie the score.
The Patriots briefly regained the advantage on a free throw by Moton, 35-34 with 11:11 to play, but the Minutewomen countered with a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead, 44-37.
George Mason eventually rallied, however, outscoring UMass, 21-6 in the final 7:22. Brittany Poindexter's layup at the 3:42 mark put the Patriots in front for good. Mosgrove went on to execute a beautiful with nine seconds left in the contest, though it was too late to spark a comeback effort.
Moton finished the evening with a game-best 19 points to lead the Patriots, while also grabbing four steals. Brittany Eley had 14 points off the bench for George Mason, while Poindexter was just shy of double figures (8). Angelee LaTouche and Evelyn Lewis combined for more than half of the Patriots' rebound total with 11 and 10, respectively.
The Minutewomen shot 22-for-55 (38.2%) on the evening, compared to George Mason's 22-for-61 (36.1%) overall. UMass drained 7-of-16 (43.8%) from three-point range in the second half, recovering from a 1-for-6 (16.7%) start in the opening period. The Patriots were 10-of-16 (62.5%) at the free throw line, while the Minutewomen converted 5-of-9 (55.6%) attempts. George Mason outscored UMass, 26-8 in points off turnovers. Rebounds were even at 37 apiece.
Last Time: Quinnipiac Slips Past Minutewomen, 66-63
In a game that came down to the wire, the UMass women's basketball team came up just short of Quinnipiac, falling 66-63 on Tuesday night at the TD Bank Sports Center.
Jasmine Watson paced UMass with a season-high 18 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. It marked her fifth straight game in double figures. It was the second time she has led the team in scoring this season and fourth time as the squad's top rebounder.
Senior Emilie Teuscher chipped in 12 points, including nine in the second half. It was Teuscher's sixth career double-figure scoring game and second of the year.
Freshman Kim Pierre-Louis reached double figures for the first time in her collegiate career with 11 points, which came in eight minutes on the floor. She had nine points in four minutes in the first half.
Redshirt-sophomore Carolann Cloutier loged 10 points, reaching double figures for a second straight game. It was her third time with double-digit scoring in her career, while her six boards marked her fourth time in six games at UMass with five or more rebounds.
Freshman Aisha Rodney dished a team-best four assists, her best of the year, and logged seven points.
The Minutewomen shot a season-high 45.1% (23-51) in the contest against the Bobcats, coming off a season-high shooting performance against Ole Miss (43.3%).
UMass had four scorers in double figures for the second time in the past three games (Watson 18, Teuscher 12, Pierre-Louis 11, Cloutier 10).
Many Happy Returns
The Minutewomen have just five members of their 12-player squad that saw action at UMass in 2010-11. However, four out of the five (Dee Montgomery, Emilie Teuscher, Jasmine Watson and Megan Zullo) were starters for the Minutewomen last season.
UMass brings back five of its top-six returning scorers or 65% of the team's point production from a year ago. Those five were also five of the top-six rebounders, accounting for 594 of the team's 1091 boards in 2010-11 or 54%.
Zullo Back For More
Guard Megan Zullo returns for the Minutewomen in 2011-12 after being granted a sixth year by the NCAA. Zullo was awarded the additional year of eligibility due to the injuries she sustained as a freshman at North Carolina State and as a junior.
Zullo played all 30 games last season and averaged 10.5 points per-game, good for fourth on the squad and was third in the Atlantic 10 win an average of 4.5 assists per-game. Her total of 135 helpers was the ninth-best single season total of all time in program history, while her tally of 70 three-pointers is second-most on the single season list. She set UMass records for minutes played in a season in 2010-11 with 1,136 and minutes average (37.9).
Through two seasons and counting with the Minutewomen after coming from N.C. State, Zullo has totaled 588 career points, 227 assists and is 137-for-361 (.380) beyond the arc. She is currently ranked fourth on the UMass career list in three-point field goals made (137), fifth in three-point percentage and assist average (3.5), and sixth in minutes average (31.9).
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, 2010 vs. George Mason, last year's season opener.
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.
Earlier this fall, Zullo was named to the College Sports Madness Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference second team.
All That Jas
Junior Jasmine Watson, UMass' top returning scorer, has been named to the preseason Atlantic 10 third team for a second straight year.
After missing the first eight games of 2010-11, Watson came back from injury to lead the team in scoring and rebounding with averages of 14.4 and 7.6, respectively, while also contributing 1.7 blocks per-game.
She posted seven double-doubles on the year and was the team's top scorer in seven games. In conference play, Watson averaged 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per contest, good for 12th and sixth in the league, respectively.
Through two seasons and counting at UMass, Watson has totaled 695 career points (12.0 ppg), 397 rebounds (6.8 rpg) and 87 blocks. At Rhode Island this past January, Watson scored a career-best 27 points.
Watson, the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, begins her junior season seventh on the program's all-time list for career blocks and ranks third in blocked shots average.
From Near And Far
UMass' 12-player roster is comprised of individuals from 11 different states and provinces, including three international players.
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 six new players that will see the floor for the first time this season: freshman guard Emily Mital, freshman forwards Ronni Grandison, Kim Pierre-Louis and Aisha Rodney and two players who sat out as redshirts in 2010-11, center Millie Niggeling and guard Carolann Cloutier.
Among the high school accomplishments of the freshman group, Rodney was a four-time all-state selection at Grosse Pointe South High School in Michigan and Mital was an all-state honoree as a senior and as a junior out of Frisco Liberty High School in Texas.
Cloutier, a transfer from Old Dominion, played with Team Canada at the World University games before college. Niggeling was a four-time all-state selection at Bishop Heelan and helped the team to two Iowa state titles.
Pair Of Telecasts To Air Live in Boston
Nelligan Sports Marketing has reached an agreement with WBIN-TV that will allow UMass fans in the greater Boston area to watch approximately a dozen live broadcasts of UMass games, including two women's basketball games. The contests will be produced by the UMass Sports Network.
In addition to every home game airing locally on CBS 3 Now, the Minutewomen's matchups against Maine on Dec. 11 and Saint Joseph's on Jan. 7 will air on WBIN-TV.
WBIN-TV, the only locally owned and operated TV station in the Boston/Manchester market, reaches 2.4 million households and over 5 million people in 500 towns in eastern and central Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is available on Comcast channel 18 (811 in HD), FiOS channel 6 (506 in HD), DirecTV channel 50/950 and Dish Network channel 50/8777.
UMass Women's Basketball Radio Show On WMUA
Throughout the 2011-12 season, catch up on what's going on with the Minutewomen as WMUA broadcasters Ryan X. Murray and Pat O'Neil 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.
Mosgrove Playing Overseas
Recent graduate Cerie Mosgrove is continuing her basketball career overseas. The 6-0 guard, who completed her fourth year with the Minutewomen in 2010-11, signed with T71 Dudelange of the Luxembourg-Diekirch League this past summer.
Mosgrove led the nation in three-point percentage in 2010-11, finishing her senior campaign 78-of-157 from beyond the arc for a 49.7% clip, and won the National Women's 3-Point Shooting Championship in Houston, Texas.
She set UMass records for threes made, three-point percentage and free throw percentage (.864) in 2010-2011 and ranks third all-time for career three-point field goals made (171) and career three-point percentage (.390).
The guard set career highs in every statistical category in her final campaign with the Minutewomen, including points (408) and rebounds (195). She finished second on the squad in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding average (6.5 rpg). In her four-year career at UMass, Mosgrove totaled 758 points and 336 rebounds.
Tatham Sisters Help Canada To Bronze At FIBA Americas
UMass women's basketball alums Tamara and Alisha Tatham recently helped Team Canada to a bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Tournamen this fall. Canada will now move on to the World Olympic Qualifier in June for a chance to secure a position in the 2012 Olympics.
Canada defeated Cuba, 59-46, in the bronze medal game, aided by six rebounds from Tamara Tatham. She also contributed five points, while Alisha Tatham played five minutes and recorded one blocked shot.
Alisha Tatham has been a member of the Canadian National Team for eight years and has played in 64 international contests. Tamara Tatham has been with Team Canada for six years, appearing in 59 games.
A 2007 graduate, Tamara Tatham plays professionally with the Halle Lions in Halle, Germany. The 6-1 forward finished her career with the Minutewomen 10th all-time in scoring (1,186 points) and ranks in the top-10 for career steals (4th, 190), rebounds (5th, 755), blocks (8th, 115) and free throws (8th, 282), as well.
Tamara's younger sister, Alisha, graduated from UMass in 2008 and appeared in 116 career games with the Minutewomen. She totaled 524 points with 281 rebounds and 147 assists. She currently plays for Point Chaud Sprimont in Belgium. 
