The Massachusetts Women’s Basketball team lost their fourth straight game to Monmouth 74-62 on Nov. 19.

It was another slow start to the game for the Minutewomen. The Hawks went on a 12-4 to start the game which forced a timeout by UMass head coach Mike Leflar. Monmouth outscored UMass 24-11 in the first quarter. This is the third straight game where UMass has found themselves down by double digits at the end of the first quarter. 

Massachusetts did outscore the Hawks in the second quarter 14-12. However, they struggled from three in the first half. UMass was zero for eight from three point range and were 8-33 from the field. 

Defensively, the Minutewomen were not any better. Leflar played a 2-3 zone on defense for a few possessions, but the Hawks had their way with it. Monmouth was 6-14 from three and outrebounded UMass 28-9 in the first half. 

The one positive for UMass is they won the turnover battle in the first half. The Hawks had 16 turnovers to the Minutewomen’s six. Of those 16 turnovers in the first half, UMass scored 17 points. This accounted for a majority of their points in the first 20 minutes.

UMass came out firing in the third quarter. Guard Stefanie Kulesza and forward Lilly Taulelei came up big for the Minutewomen and combined for 14 of the 23 points they scored in the third quarter. Defensively, UMass forced six turnovers from Monmouth and kept them from scoring a single three in the third quarter. 

Entering the fourth quarter, UMass only trailed by four points. The Minutewomen held the Hawks scoreless for four minutes and took the lead with under six minutes to go in the game, once trailing by 18 points. However, after UMass took a 56-54 lead, they would be outscored by Monmouth 18-6 to end the fourth quarter. 

The Minutewomen just could not stop the Hawks from scoring in the paint and were held scoreless by the Hawks for the last three minutes of the game.

Kulesza led UMass in scoring with 19 points and had six rebounds, but she found herself in foul trouble again. Guards Jania Hall and Ariana Vandershoop led Monmouth in scoring with 16 points each and shot a combined 13-24 from the field. Once again, the Minutewomen were outrebounded by the Hawks 45-20. 

The Hawks had more assists in the game with 15 compared to UMass’ 13. Additionally, it was the second straight game where UMass shot poorly from three. The Minutewomen were 3-15 from three and made their first three in the third quarter.

The Minutewomen fell to 1-4 as they head to Mexico for the Cancun Challenge, playing three games in three days over the Thanksgiving holiday.