HAMDEN, Conn. – In a game that came down to the wire, the UMass women’s basketball team came up just short of Quinnipiac, falling 66-63 on Tuesday night at the TD Bank Sports Center. Following the setback, the Minutewomen sit at 1-5 on the year, while the Bobcats improve to 4-2.
Jasmine Watson (South Bend, Ind./South Bend Washington) paced UMass with a season-high 18 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds, while senior Emilie Teuscher (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) chipped in 12 points, including nine in the second half. Freshman Kim Pierre-Louis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Paul Catholic) reached double figures for the first time in her collegiate career with 11 points and redshirt-sophomore Carolann Cloutier ( Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College/Old Dominion) followed with 10 points, also totaling six boards. Freshman Aisha Rodney (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) dished a team-best four assists and logged seven points.
In a tightly-played first half, that featured four ties and six lead changes, UMass and Quinnipiac were separated by three points or less for the majority of the period. A layup by junior Dee Montgomery (Bluff City, Tenn./Tennessee H.S.) began an 8-0 run for the Minutewomen, a stretch that featured three straight buckets by Watson who finished the half in double figures (10 points). With UMass holding a five-point lead at 18-13 with 8:26 left in the half, the Bobcats promptly responded by scoring the next seven straight to pull in front, 20-18.
Pierre-Louis helped push the momentum back to the Minutewomen, quickly scoring her first bucket of the night just seconds after entering the game. Pierre-Louis went on to log nine points in her four minutes on the floor in the frame to help UMass out to its largest lead of the half, eight, at 32-24 with 1:59 remaining. Quinnipiac crept back within striking distance, however, as Camryn Warner converted a three-point play and Ellen Cannon drained a trey on back-to-back possessions to pull the Bobcats within two. Kari Goodchild split on a trip to the line and senior Megan Zullo (Greenville, N.C./Farmville/N.C. State) hit a jumper in the closing seconds to bring the score to 34-31, Minutewomen, at the intermission.
UMass made its biggest run midway through the second half. With Quinnipiac holding a 49-47 edge with 10:46 remaining, the Minutewomen scored 10 straight points, aided by a pair of threes from Teuscher to build a 49-47 lead. The Bobcats countered, though, with an 11-2 stretch to regain a one-point lead at the 5:02 mark. Following a layup by Watson at 4:11 that briefly put UMass back on top by one, Quinnipiac scored the next five points to increase the margin to 65-61. Pierre-Louis hit a clutch layup with 1:32 to go to bring the Minutewomen within two, but Quinnipiac came up with a defensive stop on UMass’ final possession.
The Minutewomen shot a season-high 46% (23-50) in the contest and were 5-for-11 (45.5%) from beyond the arc and 12-for-18 (66.7%) at the free throw line. The Bobcats shot 23-for-74 (31.1%) overall, 4-for-18 (22.2%) from three and made 16-of-28 (57.1%) at the charity stripe.
Brittany McQuain led Quinnipiac with a double-double on 14 points and 10 rebounds. Warner followed with 13 points, eight boards and four assists, Jasmine Martin totaled 11 points and Felicia Barron grabbed five steals.
The Minutewomen continue their three-game road trip on Thursday night, Dec. 1, at George Mason at 7 p.m.
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