The Massachusetts Women’s basketball team lost a close battle 48-45 against New Hampshire in their home opener on Thursday night. The Minutewomen now fall to 0-2 after dropping both the season and home opener.
UMass led by a point with a minute to go in the fourth quarter. It looked like the Minutewomen had the game in hand after forcing a stop from the Wildcats with 20 seconds remaining. UMass needed to inbound the ball and play the free throw game.. However, UMass committed a backcourt violation during the inbound, which shifted the momentum for the Wildcats.
“We just played not to lose,” head coach Mike Leflar said. “I’m disappointed that I have to go backwards and talk about [our body language] with this group because I thought we were beyond that, but that’s where we are. ”
Maggie Cavanaugh won New Hampshire the game with a clutch layup to take the lead and iced the game with her two free throws. Cavanaugh scored eight points with six of those eight points coming in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Eva DeChent led the Wildcats in scoring with 18 points tying her career-high.
One bright spot for the Minutewomen was the play of Allie Palmieri. Palmieri achieved her career high in points, scoring 20 ponts while shooting 7/16 from the field and 40 percent from three. Palmieri was the only player to score a basket for UMass in the fourth quarter, and seems to be the key player to unlocking the offense.
“Allie [Palmieri] needs to be our scorer,” Leflar said. “I want her to continue to stay aggressive, and I thought she did that on the offensive end.”
Outside of Palmieiri the offense for UMass was hard to come by. The rest of the team shot a combined 18 percent from the field. Additionally, the Minutewomen went through two stretches in the game, where they went through a five-minute scoring drought. One to end the game in the fourth quarter and another stretch from the end of the first quarter to beginning of the second quarter.
The Minutewomen only have themselves to blame, as they had good looks, but none of them went in. Especially, when it came to layups. UMass struggled to make the necesary baskets especially in the paint.
“We have to make layups. We have to make open shots if you want to be good.” Leflar said.
Defensively, UMass were engaged and pressed the Wildcats with intensity, which Leflar urged them to do. The game started with UMass engaging New Hampshire with a full-court press that saw the Wildcats turn the ball over in two straight possessions. The press set the tone for UMass as they ended up causing 20 turnovers, and scored 16 points off those turnovers, which accounted for a third of their total points in the game.
“I want us to have urgency on defense, pressing forces us to have that urgency,” Leflar said. “We have to turn those turnovers into points, we can’t come up empty with those live ball turnovers, and I think at times we did that tonight.”
UMass looks to get their first win of the season as they welcome Central Connecticut State to the Mullins Center on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. as they continue this five game home stand.
