UMass Minutewomen (13-4, 3-1 A-10) defeated the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (14-3, 4-1 A-10) 58 to 56 on Saturday afternoon. The Minutewomen snap the Hawks four-game winning streak while extending their own winning streak to two games. UMass extends the win streak to four in the all-time series, with Saint Joe’s leading 51-16.
UMass started off slow in the first quarter and let Saint Joe’s get off to an early lead. UMass was down by 5 at the end of the quarter, with the score being 17-12 in Saint Joe’s favor. The Minutewomen ended up tying the score up at halftime with each team having 30 points a piece. UMass outscored the Hawks 18-13 in the second quarter. Throughout the second half, the game was either tied, a two-point game, or a four-point game. A surprising thing to note is UMass only had the lead for 6 minutes and 13 seconds of the game, while the Hawks had the lead for 31 minutes and 10 seconds of the game. In the remaining time in the game, the score was tied.
Ber’Nyah Mayo led UMass with 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Sydney Taylor scored 10 points and 6 rebounds, and Makennah White also scored 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. White’s 4 steals marked a career-high for her in steals, which was previously 2 steals. Sam Breen had a quiet night only scoring 9 points and 8 rebounds.
The Minutewomen utilized their bench by going four players off of the bench and getting some playing time. Piath Gabriel, Stefanie Kulesza, Makennah White, and Kristin Williams all got to see playing time at one point of the game. Lilly Ferguson and Laila Fair were the only players who did not see playing time available. Alexzeya Brooks, who is typically one of the first players off the bench for UMass, was not at the game which opened up the bench for Kulesza and Williams to get playing time.
Saint Joe’s was led by Laura Ziegler with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Two other Hawks reached double digits in scoring, Tayla Brugler and Olivia Mullins. Brugler posted 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Mullins posted 13 points and 4 rebounds.
Next up for Saint Joe’s, they travel back down to Hagan Arena and face the La Salle Explorers (11-8, 2-2 A-10) for the second time this season on Wednesday, January 18th at 7pm. In the most recent matchup, La Salle lost to Saint Joe’s 68-64 in the cross-town rivalry. Saint Joseph’s leads the all-time series matchup 52-15. La Salle is looking to extend their own win streak to three and split the series with Saint Joe’s for the regular season.
Next up for the Minutewomen, they travel to the Rose Hill Gym to face the Fordham Rams (12-6, 4-1 A-10) on Wednesday, January 18th at 7pm. UMass leads in the all-time series 25-22, and they are looking to extend the win streak against Fordham to five games. UMass wants to keep Anna DeWolfe and Asiah Dingle from controlling the game for Fordham. DeWolfe and Dingle are the top scorers for the Rams.
