UMass Minutewomen (11-3, 1-0 A10) defeated the Saint Bonaventure Bonnies (3-13, 0-1 A10) 74-51 to start conference play off. The Minutewomen extend the winning streak to three, while the Bonnies losing streak is now at five games. The Bonnies now have the longest losing streak on the season which was initially four games which they had going into the game and they also had four game losing streak at the end of November. UMass extends the win streak against the Bonnies in the all time series between the two teams to four games, and puts the all time series record to 36-29 UMass leads.
The Minutewomen found themselves trailing at the end of the first quarter 17-14 to Saint Bonaventure. That was the only time that the Bonnies had the lead at the end of a quarter. The Minutewomen held the Bonnies to scoring only four points in the second quarter, and that is where UMass had taken full control of the game.
Along with the win for UMass, history was made by a Minutewomen player. Sam Breen earned her first triple-double in her career, and was only the second Minutewomen to earn a triple-double in UMass history. The only other time that a Minutewomen had earned a triple-double was on November 17th, 2000 when Jennifer Butler recorded 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 steals. Breen’s triple-double was with assists instead of steals. Breen scored 11 points, 14 rebounds, and a new career-high of 11 assists. This was the second time this season that Sam Breen was put on triple-double watch, her first time was against Maine on November 14th. The rest of Breen’s stat line was 3 steals, 1 block, and 0 turnovers. Breen showed us yet again why she was chosen as Player of the Year for the conference last season, and named to the All-Conference First Team in the preseason. Besides having those two honors from the conference Breen also showed us why she was named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List, the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s Watch List, and the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
Besides Breen’s historic game, four other Minutewomen scored in the double digits. Sydney Taylor led the team in scoring with 16 points and 4 rebounds, Makennah White scored 13 points and 6 rebounds, Destiney Philoxy had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Ber’Nyah Mayo had 11 points and 5 steals.
The Bonnies had two players in double figures. I’yanna Lops with 11 points and 6 rebounds and Claire Cody with 12 points, 1 steal, and 1 block. Nadechka Laccen had 9 points and 7 assists very close to a double-double.
Next up for Saint Bonaventure, they travel back home to the Reilly Center to face the George Mason Patriots (7-7, 0-1 A-10) on January 5th at 7pm. The Bonnies currently lead the all-time series 7-5. Bonnies score on average 52.5 points per game and allow the opponents to score 64.6 points per game. The Patriots score 61.8 points per game on average and allow 63.5 points per game on average.
Next up for UMass, the Minutewomen close out the five-game home stretch against conference rival, the Rhode Island Rams (10-3, 1-0 A-10) on Wednesday, January 5th at 5pm. UMass is looking to extend the win streak to four games, while the Rams are looking to build their win streak to two games. UMass leads Rhode Island in the all-time series history 49-39. UMass is looking to snap the three game losing streak they have in the all-time history. Rhode Island averages 69.2 points per game and holds opponents to 56.5 points per game on average. UMass averages 77.3 points per game and holds opponents on average to 64.1 points per game. The player to watch for Rhode Island against the Minutewomen is Maye Toure who averages 13.6 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. UMass and Rhode Island are two of the top teams in the conference, and could be playing against each other in the A-10 Championship title in March.
