The Massachusetts Women’s basketball team (15-12, 10-6 Atlantic-10) flashed their dominance in an 87-62 rout against Loyola Chicago on Wednesday night. The win seals UMass a bye in the first round of the A-10 tournament. They are within two games of Davidson for a chance at the double-bye.
After a sloppy start to the game filled with turnovers, UMass dominated the game by attacking the paint and utilizing their full-court press. The Minutewomen have used this press to cause turnovers and disrupt an opposition offense all season and it worked well against the Ramblers.
Midway through the first UMass forced Loyola Chicago into five turnovers off that press alone, making them frantic. Offensively, the Minutewomen turned those turnovers into buckets with Megan Olbrys being the beneficiary of them.
“We wanted to jump on them in the first quarter,” head coach Mike Leflar said. “Despite a tough three or four minutes with turnovers … we really tightened up after that and played great.”
Leflar has echoed the importance of Olbrys on offense especially down in the post. Olbrys dominated the paint tonight scoring 11 points in the first. In the end, Olbrys finished with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, led the team in rebounds with 13 and was perfect at the line.
The win is significant in many ways for UMass not only for seeding, but the dominance they have been playing at. It’s the most points the Minutewomen have scored this season. Of the 87 points scored, 50 of them came in the paint.
In the past 13 games, UMass has scored more in the paint 12 times. It’s the key to the Minutewomen’s success this season, and teams have taken notice of this and have come up with defensive schemes such as double-teaming Olbrys.
“Obviously we go inside to [Olbrys] a lot, we love to keep going inside to [Chinenye Odenigbo] and posting her up,” Leflar said. “Then obviously having a guard like [Stefanie Kulesza] who we can get involved in post-ups [is something] I’m really fortunate to have that and play to those strengths.”
The Ramblers have struggled this season, sitting second to last in the A-10. The Minutewomen have taken care of business in these winnable games which is a stark contrast to last season. This is the 10th blowout victory of 15 points or more for UMass. What helps aid in these wins is having players that can score.
The Minutewomen have three players in the top 15 of the A-10 who have scored the most points. Olbrys leads the team in points, averaging 14 points a game, but it’s the play of freshman Yahmani McKayle that has helped UMass. McKayle finished with 15 points, shooting 6-of-10 with a team-leading eight assists and made a buzzer-beater to end the first half. Her play recently earned her Rookie of the Week in the A-10. McKayle struggled early on in the season but has turned it on since the start of conference play, averaging 13.8 points a game during that time.
Another player who struggled early on the season is Kulesza. Kulesza has struggled to find consistency with her game, having games where she is at her best and games where she struggles to make an impact. In the past couple of games, Kulesza has been amazing, especially in the win against Duquesne where she grabbed 22 rebounds and scored 14 points. Her play earned her the A-10’s Player of the Week, and she showed why, scoring 19 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
“Just starting off the game really hot just gives you that momentum to kind of keep throughout the game, and it doesn’t give you that second guessing, and you can just get out to the lead,” Kulesza said. “Towards the end of the game it gets fun … but I think starting off with a lot of momentum is very important, every single time we play.”
Up next for UMass is a home rematch against Rhode Island on Sunday at 1 p.m. The last time these two teams met, it was a close contest, with the Rams winning 60-58 down in Rhode Island. Leflar reaffirmed how emotional that loss was to Rhode Island and how they let that slip through their fingers. Sunday’s matchup becomes important for seeding and an occasion to celebrate the seniors on the team for Senior Day.
