The Massachusetts Women’s basketball team was eliminated from the Atlantic-10 championship at the hands of Saint Louis 67-57 on Thursday afternoon.

Saint Louis got their revenge after losing to UMass by 17 points at home in the regular season back in January. Coming off a first-round win against No. 15 St. Bonaventure, the Billikens came out to play and opened the game with a 5-0 lead. UMass responded with an 11-0 run halfway through the first quarter, leading 19-12, giving them a seven-point lead. 

The Minutewomen looked to be in control, but what came next was a disastrous second and third quarter that put this game out of reach. Saint Louis started the second quarter on an 8-0 run that saw them take a two-point lead. UMass would end up trading baskets to regain a one-point lead, but after a series of missed baskets and two missed free throws by Momo LaClair, the Billikens took control of the game.

Saint Louis ended the quarter with a 7-0 run, and UMass shot 1-of-7. Only trailing by six entering halftime, the Minutewomen had a chance to at least regain some control. The Billikens didn’t give them any chance as they continued to their scoring brigade, pushing their 7-0 run to end the second quarter into a 14-0 run early in the third quarter.

UMass shot 2-of-10 in the second and it was the same story in the third quarter as they shot 2-of-13. The last time UMass played Saint Louis, they had 20 turnovers, on Thursday they had 28. While the Billikens had 29 turnovers, the Minutewomen’s poor shooting was what cost them today.

Two of UMass’s top scorers in the season, Megan Olbrys and Allie Palmieri, had one of their worst games of the season. Olbrys, a key to the Minutewomen’s offense, didn’t score her first field goal until the first minute of the fourth quarter. She finished the game with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. Palmieri had 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting and 3-of-8 from three. 

Freshman Yahmani McKayle led the team in scoring with 15 points. She shot 3-of-8 and was 9-of-10 from the free throw line. However, the Rookie of the Year struggled to handle the ball, traveled a couple of times and committed bad passes in traffic. McKayle set a career-high in turnovers with 12. Each turnover was detrimental to UMass, putting them in a hole they couldn’t get themselves out of. 

After the first quarter, UMass was outscored by Saint Louis 33-13, a 20-point swing that was too big for UMass to get out of. A big reason for that was the play of Brooklyn Gray. UMass will have nightmares of the way the junior torched the Minutewomen defense. Gray set a career-high in points with 30, shooting 12-of-17 and making 2-of-5 from three. Her best three coming from the first half, where she hit a step back three in the face of the UMass defense.

UMass did battle in the fourth quarter to get the 20-point lead down to eight with under a minute to go, but there was not enough time for UMass. Undisciplined basketball hurt UMass on Thursday. All five starters for the Minutewomen had more than two fouls. Chinenye Odenigbo and Olbrys fouled out in the fourth quarter. McKayle and Palmieri finished with four fouls. In total, UMass fouled the Billikens 24 times. 

While some may call this an upset, Saint Louis has played good basketball down the stretch, winning six of their last nine games. On paper, UMass looked like a team that could go toe-to-toe with any team, no matter their record or seed. However, they fell flat against Saint Louis and didn’t play with that same energy and intensity they usually come out with. 

Year two of the Mike Leflar era at UMass has been completed, and while it didn’t end the way they would have liked, there are many positives to take away from this season. Polled as the thirteenth best team in the A-10, UMass exceeded expectations and played some hard hitting basketball. 

Stefanie Kulesza will be graduating, and to lose a leader like her will be hard to replace. However, the Minutewomen have promising pieces to build around and can recruit players to carry on the culture Leflar is building in Amherst.

As UMass enters the 2025 fall season in a new conference, the Mid-American Conference, fans can be hopeful that, given the team’s growth this year, the glory days could be upon us once again.