Minutewomen Outbound to George Mason for Atlantic 10 First Round

University of Massachusetts Women's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Atlantic 10 First Round • Championship Central • Printable Bracket
Game 31	No. 10 Massachusetts (15-15) at No. 7 George Mason (16-13)
Date // Time	Tuesday, March 5 // Noon
Location	Fairfax, Va. // EagleBank Arena
Stream	ESPN+
Radio	91.1 FM WMUA
Live Statistics	SIDEARM Stats
Game Notes	Massachusetts (available shortly) // George Mason (available shortly)
Twitter	@UMassAthletics // @UMassWBB // @CoachVerdiUMass
Instagram	UMass Women's Basketball
Facebook	UMass Women's Basketball
Tickets	George Mason Ticket Central

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Follow UMass women's basketball on Twitter (@UMassWBB), Instagram (UMassWBB) and Facebook (UMass Women's Basketball) for the latest news and updates around the program. In addition, fans can follow head coach Tory Verdi on Twitter @CoachVerdiUMass.

What's at Stake
The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh and face No. 2 seeded Fordham. That game will tip on Fri., March 8 at 4:30 p.m. The remainder of the A-10 Championship following Tuesday's First Round will be played at the Palumbo Center on the campus of Duquesne University, concluding with the Championship Game on Sun., March 10.

Recap in a Minute
The Minutewomen enter the tournament on the heels of back-to-back wins over Richmond (Feb. 27) and Rhode Island (March 2). UMass trailed for less than five minutes against Richmond and never played from behind against the Rams.

In the Rhody game, junior Vashnie Perry shot 6-of-11 from the field to lead the Minutewomen with 15 points, complemented by nine points from freshman Destiney Philoxy. Junior Hailey Leidel grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the win, which saw the Minutewomen weather a late charge by URI before sealing the contest.

Anyone Still Have a Razr?
Massachusetts' win at Rhode Island on March 2 gave the Minutewomen their 15th win of the season and seventh triumph in the Atlantic 10. Both are the most by the program in a single season since 2006-07, when that group finished 17-14 and 7-7 in the A-10.

The Last Time vs. George Mason
A back-and-forth contest turned George Mason's way midway through the first quarter on Jan. 16 as UMass fell to the Patriots, 70-52 at the Mullins Center. Junior Vashnie Perry led the Minutewomen with 13 points, then a season-high, and senior Jessica George put down 10 in the setback before a Field Trip Day crowd of 3,310.

Mason capitalized on a pair of difficult shooting stretches for UMass and ultimately headed into the locker room at halftime with a 40-30 lead. Both teams were an identical 5-of-14 from the field in the third quarter, leaving the door open for a fourth period comeback, but the Patriots pulled away in the final 10 minutes and swelled their lead to as much as 20 in the waning moments of the contest.

Start Spreadin' the News
Playing in her native New York City for the first time as a Minutewoman, freshman Destiney Philoxy dropped 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with five assists and four rebounds at Fordham (Feb. 24). It marked the highest scoring output by a UMass freshman since Bre Hampton-Bey put down 31 in a win over VCU on Jan. 21, 2018.

Elite Company
Junior Hailey Leidel claimed sole possession of 10th place on the UMass all-time scoring list against Richmond on Wed., Feb. 27, now totaling 1,305 points since joining the program in 2016-17. In ninth is former Minutewomen Crystal Carroll (1993-97), who amassed 1,405 in her career. Leidel is also the 17th player in UMass history to record both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career and the first since Kim Pierre-Louis (2011-15).

Doubling the Fun
Leidel has turned in five double-double performances in her career, all throughout the 2018-19 season. Her first was in a come-from-behind win over UT Rio Grande Valley (Nov. 20), while Leidel also produced double-doubles in victories vs. Fairfield (Nov. 25), Incarnate Word (Dec. 7), at La Salle (Jan. 13) and vs. Duquesne (Feb. 7).

Sharp-Shooting Squad
Massachusetts heads into Tuesdsay as the the top three-point shooting team (33.5 percent) in the Atlantic 10 Conference, while also ranking third in total field goal percentage (40.0) in the league.

From South Hadley to Scholarship
Senior Mackenzie Sullivan was awarded a full scholarship during a team meeting held on Sat., Jan. 12. Sullivan, a native of nearby South Hadley, Massachusetts, initially walked on to the Minutewomen squad in Sept. 2018. She recorded the first points of her career in the win over Richmond on Feb. 27.

"Mackenzie earned that scholarship because she comes to practice every single day and is exactly what we want to coach here at the University of Massachusetts," said head coach Tory Verdi. "She's an unbelievable teammate, she's coachable and she brings it each and every day. Mackenzie is relied upon and is well-deserving of her scholarship."

Starting Fresh
Massachusetts' win over Saint Louis win on Jan. 6 snapped the team's nine-game losing streak against the Billikens dating back to Jan. 19, 2011. It also marked the first time since 2012-13 that the Minutewomen opened up the Atlantic 10 schedule on the winning end.

Welcome to the Show
Freshman Asia McCoy enjoyed a breakout game despite a losing effort at Northeastern on Sun., Dec. 2 with her first career double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds). The Lawrenceville, Georgia native has made 16 starts on the season and shot 5-of-9 en route to a 14-point showing against Saint Louis on Jan. 6.

McCoy highlights a trio of impact freshmen along with Jessica Nelson and Destiney Philoxy, in addition to redshirt freshman Anil Soysal.

George Collects Atlantic 10 Weekly Honor
Jessica George was tabbed a co-recipient of the Atlantic 10's Player of the Week award on Mon., Dec. 31. She was key in UMass' Sat., Dec. 29 victory at Marist, a 70-55 decision to conclude the non-conference schedule. The native of Waldorf, Maryland put down a game-high and career-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including a 6-of-8 showing from three-point land. George added three rebounds plus one steal and one assist and did not have a single turnover in her 38 minutes played.

On the season, Massachusetts is 7-2 when George scores at least 12 points.

'90s on 9
Helped in part by a 55.9 percent (38-of-68) showing from the field and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) clip from three-point land, UMass never trailed and picked up a convincing 90-61 win over Brown on Sat., Nov. 24. The last time the Minutewomen put up at least 90 points against a Division I foe was on Jan. 22, 2008 in the squad's non-conference finale, a 91-57 rout of Yale in Amherst at the Mullins Center.

Aye Aye, Captain
Senior Jessica George and junior Hailey Leidel will guide the Minutewomen this season as captains.

Scoreboard

Minutewomen Outbound to George Mason for Atlantic 10 First Round

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Players Mentioned

Jessica George

Bre Hampton-Bey

Hailey Leidel

Asia McCoy

Jessica Nelson

Vashnie Perry

Destiney Philoxy

Anil Soysal

Mackenzie Sullivan

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics