AMHERST, Mass. – UMass women’s basketball junior Jasmine Watson (South Bend, Ind./South Bend Washington) logged her 10th career double-double, pacing the squad with 15 points and 14 rebounds to go along with five blocks, but it was not enough to help the Minutewomen past Central Connecticut as the squad fell, 58-55 in overtime at the Mullins Center on Wednesday evening. Following the setback, the Minutewomen are now 1-1 on the season, while the Blue Devils improve to 2-0 on the year.
Two more UMass players finished just shy of double-doubles as junior Shakia Robinson (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) totaled 12 points and nine rebounds and redshirt-sophomore Carolann Cloutier (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College/Old Dominion) added eight points, nine boards, five assists and two steals. Senior Megan Zullo (Greenville, N.C./Farmville/N.C. State) and redshirt-freshman Millie Niggeling (Sioux City, Iowa/Bishop Heelan) logged six points apiece, as well.
From Robinson’s jumper on UMass’ opening possession, the Minutewomen held an early lead in the first half until a three-pointer by Danielle Davis’ sparked a 12-0 run by Central Connecticut over a three-minute, 23 second stretch to put the Blue Devils up by six, 22-16, with 5:25 on the clock. UMass responded, though, closing the half with a 17-5 stretch. Niggeling kick-started the run with six straight points for the Minutewomen, while Robinson had three field goals in that span, as well. UMass hit three shots in the final 1:15 of the period, all fast break buckets, including a three by Zullo that brought UMass’ advantage to 33-26. Davis split on a trip to the line with two seconds remaining to make the halftime score 33-37.
Jessica Babe scored the first five points coming out of the intermission to trim the Blue Devils’ deficit to one. Zullo countered with a three-pointer at 16:11 to push the Minutewomen’s lead to 36-32 momentarily. However, Central Connecticut kept pace with UMass, not letting the Minutewomen pull away by more than five. Lauren Arbogast closed the gap to 45-44 with 8:57 remaining in regulation, while Jaclyn Babe followed with a trey to put the Blue Devils on top, 47-45 at the 8:36 mark. After a layup by Watson tied the score at 47, the teams traded baskets for the final 7:21 of the period.
Cloutier hit a jumper with 33 seconds on the clock, but Kristen Daamen answered at the other end with a layup with 14 ticks left to level the score at 55 and force overtime.
Daamen’s layup at the 3:52 mark was the only field goal for either side in the extra period and all CCSU needed to secure the win. Jessica Babe made one of two at the charity stripe in the closing seconds to finish out the scoring.
UMass fell to the Blue Devils despite shooting 39.7% (23-58) from the field, compared to Central Connecticut’s 30.7% (23-75), and out-rebounding CCSU, 50-41. The Minutewomen finished the night 2-for-11 (18.2%) from beyond the arc and 7-for-16 (43.8%) at the free throw line, while the Blue Devils shot 4-for-9 (44.4%) and 8-for-10 (80%), respectively.
Daamen finished with a game-high 20 points, while Jaclyn Babe contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals for CCSU. Jessica Babe added 12 points, five boards, five assists and five steals.
UMass will return to the court this Saturday, Nov. 19, as the Minutewomen will travel to Oxford, Ohio, for their first road game of the season, at Miami at 2 p.m.
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