The Massachusetts women's basketball team has won their first two games with last-second free throws, and UMass coach Marnie Dacko isn't complaining.
"We keep telling them to learn how to win and expect to win," she said. "There was never any doubt, and that's what I'm so proud of."
The Minutewomen used clutch play down the stretch to once again escape with a small margin of victory, this time a 69-66 win over in-state rival Boston College.
UMass will travel to Boston to take on Northeastern on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The final minute of the game provided frantic action that began with a Stephanie Gerardot jump shot that put the Minutewomen in front 65-64 with 51 seconds remaining. Eagles forward Rebecca Miles responded 14 seconds later with a layup.
BC made a costly mistake on the next possession. Alisha Tatham got open under the basket with 25 seconds left, and point guard Sakera Young found her for the easy layup.
After a BC timeout, Ayla Brown took a three pointer from the left corner but the ball rimmed out and was corralled by Pam Rosanio. She calmly knocked down both free throws to put UMass up 69-66.
Mickel Picco missed a jump shot as time expired, and the Minutewomen left with the three-point victory. In its two games this season, UMass's opponents have been down three with seconds remaining and still not attempted a 3-point shot.
Last game's hero was Rosanio; this time it was Stephanie Gerardot's turn. The junior guard came off the bench to score a team-high 20 points while going 8-of-10 from the floor.
"My teammates do the hard part of setting me up; I just knock down the open shot, which is the easy part," she said.
Gerardot did most of her damage in the second half. She connected on 3-of-6 3-pointers in the half, and 15 of her 20 points came in the second.
"She's a great, great shooter, and she always gets tense," Dacko said. "This is the way she shoots in practice everyday."
Dacko also credited the team for finding the hot hand, who happened to be Gerardot last night. She said the team sometimes fails to recognize that these players must continually be given the ball.
Center Carolyn Swords won Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Week last week, and she showed UMass that it was no fluke. The freshman scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Eagles, including six offensive rebounds. She was causing matchup problems in the low post; however, she picked up her fourth foul with 13:15 left and didn't score the rest of the game.
Offensive rebounds were a problem area for UMass. BC pulled down 22 offensive rebounds, while UMass grabbed 10 forcing the Minutewomen to win the game with 3-point shooting and free throws.
They went 7-of-17 from beyond the arc, while the Eagles converted on four of their 18 attempts. It's not often a team wins when it doesn't make a single foul shot, and BC missed all five of its attempts. UMass also hit all six of their free throws in the second half after going 4-of-9 from the line in the first half.
This was more than any other regular season win for UMass. The Eagles beat the Minutewomen five consecutive times prior to last night, including the last three years. In 2005, the Maroon and White were nearly doubled-up 83-44 in Chestnut Hill.
"Our seniors haven't beat them yet since they've been here, and we really wanted our seniors to be able to say that they've beat Boston College before they left."
One of those seniors, Kate Mills, struggled out of the gate. She went 3-of-11 in the first half from the floor, and couldn't seem to find her rhythm on her mid-range jump shot. But once the second half arrived, she couldn't miss. Mills hit all five of her shots to finish the game with 16 points, and was rivaling Rosanio with her intensity after the long awaited win over the Eagles.
Notes.
Kim Benton hit her first two 3-pointers but missed her final five … Mills, Benton and Young tied for a team-high four assists … UMass opened the game with a 7-2 lead … The largest lead in the game was six when BC pulled ahead 39-33 with 16:32 remaining in the game … Swords didn't score again after returning to the game with 8:56 left … Rosanio chipped in 11 points, going 2-of-11 from the floor.
Mike Connors can be reached at mjconnor@student.umass.edu.
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