AMHERST, Mass. – Despite a career-high 14 points in 16 minutes from freshman Kim Pierre-Louis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Paul Catholic), the UMass women’s basketball team came up short of Saint Joseph’s in the teams’ Atlantic 10 opener, falling 86-58 on Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center. With the loss, the Minutewomen are now 5-11 on the year, 0-1 in conference play, while the Hawks move to 10-4 overall and open up the A-10 slate at 1-0.
Joining Pierre-Louis as the high scorer for UMass, junior Shakia Robinson (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) totaled 14 points, while redshirt-sophomore Carolann Cloutier (Montreal, Quebec/Dawson College/Old Dominion) contributed 10 points and handed out a game-high eight assists. Senior Emilie Teuscher (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) recorded eight points and four helpers and junior Jasmine Watson (South Bend, Ind./South Bend Washington) corralled a squad-leading eight rebounds.
The teams traded baskets in early minutes before Saint Joseph’s strung together an 8-0 run to lead 13-5 at the 15:17 mark. UMass had two straight layups from Watson and Robinson to pull within 13-9, before the Hawks followed up with a 9-2 stretch to lead by double figures for the first time, 22-11 with 11:42 on the clock. The Minutewomen responded, though, by out-scoring Saint Joe’s 16-9 over a stretch of six minutes, seven seconds, to pull within two at 31-29 with 5:07 remaining in the period. A three from Teuscher, UMass’ fifth on eight attempts in the half, at the 4:10 mark made it a one-point game, 33-22, but the Hawks closed out the frame with a 10-4 spurt to lead 40-36 at the intermission.
UMass could draw no closer in the second half as Ashley Prim and Samira Van Grinsven began the period with back-to-back buckets. A Robinson layup briefly brought the Minutewomen back to within six, but the Hawks stretched their lead to double digits for good as a Katie Kuester three at 9:33 began a 22-1 run for Saint Joseph’s.
The Hawks shot 33-for-66 (50%) from the floor, including an 8-for-16 (50%) clip from three, while UMass finished 22-for-51 (43.1%) overall and sunk 6-of-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc. The Minutewomen made 8-of-15 (53.3%) at the free throw line compared to Saint Joseph’s 12-for-15 (80.0%) and were narrowly out-rebounded, 35-32.
Kelly Cavallo paced the Hawks with a double-double on 15 points and 10 rebounds. Joining Cavallo in double figures for Saint Joseph’s were Kuester (13 points), Michelle Baker (12 points), Prim (12 points) and Van Grinsven (10 points). Prim logged a team-leading five assists.
UMass will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Rhode Island. Tip-off against the Rams is slated for 7 p.m.
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