AMHERST, Mass. – Behind a career-high 18 points from Emilie Teuscher (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) and a career-best 16 rebounds from Shakia Robinson (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), the UMass women’s basketball team rolled to a 63-54 victory over Maine at the Mullins Center on Sunday afternoon. The win moves the Minutewomen to 2-8 on the season, while the Black Bears drop to 3-7.
Robinson completed her third career double-double with 10 points and became the first UMass player since 2008 to grab 15 or more boards in a game. Redshirt sophomore Carolann Cloutier (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College/Old Dominion) chipped in with 11 points and matched a personal best by handing out six assists, her sixth game of the year with five-plus helpers. Senior Megan Zullo (Greenville, N.C./Farmville/N.C. State) added 10 points and a game-best four steals, while junior Jasmine Watson (South Bend, Ind./South Bend Washington) was just shy of a double-double with eight points and seven rebounds.
The Minutewomen raced out to a 7-1 lead in the contest and never looked back, holding Maine without a field goal for the first 6:22 of the contest. A layup by Corinne Wellington ended the drought at 13:38, but UMass limited the Black Bears to just 6-for-24 (25.0%) in the period and grabbed 12 steals in the half alone to help the Minutewomen to a 28-16 advantage a the intermission.
Then UMass came out of the break with a 9-1 run to go up by 20 for the first time at 17:37 on a pair of free throws from freshman Aisha Rodney (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Point South). Just under a minute later, another two at the charity stripe by Teuscher gave the Minutewomen their largest lead of the afternoon, 41-19, with 15:38 to play. Maine out-scored UMass 38-35 in the second half, but was not able to bring the deficit below 10 until Kelsey Mattice hit a three with 27 seconds remaining for the final bucket of the contest.
The Minutewomen shot 22-for-61 (36.1%) overall compared to the Black Bears’ 19-for-66 (28.8%) and made a season-high 8-of-21 (38.1%) from beyond the arc, while Maine finished just 2-for-6. UMass converted 11-of-15 (73.3%) free throws on the afternoon, while the Black Bears were 14-for-22 (63.6%) and out-rebounded the Minutewomen, 46-45.
Ashleigh Roberts was the lone player from Maine to reach double figures, totaling 10 points and corralled five rebounds. Rebecca Knight was just shy with nine points and also had seven boards. Samantha Wheeler added eight points and Danielle Walczak registered a squad-leading eight rebounds.
UMass will break for final exams this week and will be back in action on Monday, Dec. 19, at Binghamton. Tip-off against the Bearcats is slated for 6 p.m.
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