University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
La Salle
Senior Day Sunday As Women's Hoops Hosts La Salle
February 17, 2017 | Women's Basketball
Minutewomen will honor 2017 Senior Class prior to the 1 p.m. tip.
AMHERST, Mass. -Â It's the final home game of the regular season as the UMass women's basketball team hosts La Salle on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.) at the Mullins Center. The game will be streamed live on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network and carried locally on 91.1 FM WMUA.
Prior to the game, UMass will honor its 2017 Senior Class of Megan Burke and Alyx Stiff along with managers Scott Vannerson and Kathryn McGonagle.Â
UMass (9-18, 3-11 A-10) currently sits in 13th place in the Atlantic 10 standings with La Salle (15-11, 8-6) in sixth place. If the A-10 Tournament started today, the Minutewomen would travel to fourth-place Saint Joseph's under the new postseason format.
In Wednesday's loss at Richmond, Maggie Mulligan led UMass with 18 points and 10 rebounds followed by 12 points and six rebounds from Hailey Leidel. Despite a close start to the game, the Spiders were able to build out a 13-point lead in the third quarter. The Minutewomen pulled within four in the fouth quarter, but were unable to get any closer.
For the season, Leidel, the program's all-time leading freshman scorer, continues to lead the Minutewomen in points with 16.0 points a night. The rookie is also the second-leading rebounder on the squad with 6.0 boards. The Brownstown, Mich., native is the second-leading freshman scorer in the NCAA, the top scoring rookie in the A-10 and the third-overall scorer in the league.Â
Just behind Leidel is Maggie Mulligan who is averaging 13.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. The junior is third nationally in double-doubles with 18 this year – four behind NCAA-leader Chantel Osahor. The Boston native ranks second in the league in rebounding average, fifth in blocked shots, and ninth in scoring. Nationally, Mulligan is 10th overall for rebounds per game.
After her career-high effort against Davidson, Alyx Stiff is now the third leading scorer on the team with a career-best 10.7 points per game. Leah McDerment rounds out the Minutewomen's top performers with 5.3 assists per game which ranks third in the league.
The Explorers are led by Amy Griffin who is averaging a league-best 20.1 points per game followed by Adreana Miller who averages 10.3 points. La Salle has lost three of its last four games and defeated UMass in Philly for the first meeting back on Jan. 25, 68-64. In that game, UMass led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but the Explorers used a 13-to-2 run in the final three minutes of the game to pull out the win.
Following the La Salle game, UMass will close out the regular season at rival Rhode Island on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.
For complete coverage of the UMass women's basketball team, follow the Minutewomen on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UMassWBB and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.
