Dec. 10, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. -
The Minutewomen will be playing their final game before breaking for exams this coming week as the squad will face its first of two straight America East opponents, playing host to Maine on Sunday afternoon in the Mullins Center at 1 p.m. The contest will be the first of two UMass women's basketball games that will air on WBIN-TV in the Boston/Manchester market, which 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.
Scouting Maine
Maine comes to the Mullins Center on Sunday with a record of 3-6 on the year and has dropped four of its last five games including the past three straight. The Black Bears three victories on the season have come at Rhode Island (62-58), vs. Troy (66-53) and vs. the Maine Maritime Academy (73-37).
In their most recent contest on Thursday night, Maine dropped a 64-47 setback to James Madison. Samantha Wheeler totaled a game-best 18 points in the loss.
Ashleigh Roberts leads the Black Bears in scoring with 8.7 points per-game, followed closely by Brittany Williams (8.1 ppg). Wheeler is averagaing 7.2 points per-game and grabs a team-leading 5.2 rebounds per-game.
UMass Against Current America East Teams (67-54)
Albany (0-0)
Binghamton (0-1)
Boston University (12-12)
Hartford (6-5)
Maine (7-13)
UMBC (0-0)
New Hampshire (20-16)
Stony Brook (0-0)
Vermont (22-7)
Series History
The Minutewomen are 7-13 all-time against Maine, and have lost 10 of the last 12 meetings, including three straight. the Series began on Mar. 19, 1971 with a 43-21 win for the Minutewomen. UMass' last win the series came at home on Dec. 8. 2007.
Last Time Against Maine
In a contest that featured six ties and 11 lead changes, the UMass women's basketball team came up just short against Maine, falling 66-62 on Dec. 29, 2010 at Alfond Arena. Katelyn Vanderhoff netted five three-pointers in the second half, helping the Black Bears (2-10) past the Minutewomen (3-10).
Senior Megan Zullo scored in double figures for a 10th straight game, leading UMass with 16 points, while also recording seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore Jasmine Watson followed, chipping in with 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Senior Cerie Mosgrove had 13 points and junior Emilie Teuscher added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The Minutewomen began the contest with a 7-1 lead, but hit a 4:30 scoring drought following a layup by Jasmine Watson at the 13:35 mark. During that stretch, Maine scored six straight points to take its first lead of the night, 13-11. The teams traded baskets until a 7-1 UMass run gave the Minutewomen a two-possession advantage, 23-18, with 4:31 remaining in the period. However, the Black Bears countered by scoring the next eight points to go in front by three. After each side managed a layup in the closing minute, freshman Talen Watson drained a three at the buzzer to tie the score at 28 heading into the intermission.
Neither team could manage to build more than a four-point edge in the first eight minutes of the second half. Teuscher's trey at 12:02 put UMass on top for the last time, 43-42, as Maine countered with an 8-0 stretch that included a pair of threes by Vanderhoff. She later sunk another from beyond the arc with 1:59 to play to give the Black Bears their largest lead of the night, nine, at 61-52. Baskets by Zullo and Watson trimmed the deficit to two in the final 30 seconds, but Ashleigh Roberts sealed the victory for Maine by converting both her free throw attempts with 11 seconds on the clock.
The Minutewomen were 25-for-62 (40.3%) from the floor against the Black Bears, made 10-of-28 (35.7%) from three and 2-of-3 (66.7%) free throw attempts. Maine recovered from shooting 34.3% (12-for-35) in the first half with a 50% (12-for-24) showing in the second to finish at 40.7% (24-for-59). The Black Bears shot 6-for-13 (46.2%) from beyond the arc and 12-for-22 (54.5%) at the charity stripe, while out-rebounding UMass 46-31, including 19-10 on the offensive glass.
Vanderhoff paced Maine with 18 points, aided by a perfect 5-for-5 showing from three point range, and chipped in eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and four steals. Amber Smith had 13 points and six boards, Roberts totaled 11 points and Corinne Wellington was just shy of a double-double with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Last Time: UMass Falls To Providence, 66-45
Emilie Teuscher, Jasmine Watson and Shakia Robinson shot a combined 15-for-29 for the UMass women's basketball team, but the rest of the squad was limited to 2-for-21 in a 66-45 loss to Providence at the Mullins Center on Friday night.
Robinson led UMass in scoring and rebounding for the second time in the past three games with 15 and eight, respectively. Robinson and/or Watson have led UMass in scoring in all but one game this season. Robinson has reached double figures in seven-of-nine games on the year and currently paces the Minutewomen with 13.1 points per-game this season. Robinson is second in the Atlantic 10 with a .554 (51-for-92) field goal percentage through nine games.
Teuscher posted her second straight game in double figures with 12 points and dished five assists, her third game in the past four with 12 points, one shy of her career high. She sunk four threes for a second straight game, tying her career high. She now leads the Minutewomen in made threes on the year with 19, good for fourth in the A-10. It was Teuscher's second game of the season with five assists, her third of her career.
Watson scored in double figures for an eighth straight game with 11 points, moving up to 30th on the UMass all-time scoring list, passing Lu-Ann Fletcher (730, 1974-78) and Jerrie Bernier (731, 1982-86). She is now shy of 23 shy of 2011 graduate Cerie Mosgrove for 29th, currently with 735 career points.
Redshirt sophomore Carolann Cloutier had four assists against the Friars. She is fourth in the Atlantic 10 with an average of 4.4 assists per-game.
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 609 career points, 235 assists and is 142-for-377 (.377) beyond the arc. She is currently ranked fourth on the UMass career list in three-point field goals made (142), fifth in three-point percentage and assist average (3.5), and sixth in minutes average (32.0).
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 735 career points (12.0 ppg), 411 rebounds (6.7 rpg) and 90 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 guards Emily Mital and Ronni Grandison and freshman forwards 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. 
