RICHMOND, Va. – For the first time since 2002 the Massachusetts Minutewomen advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinals, defeating second-seeded Fordham 80-70 Friday night at VCU’s Siegel Center. Sophomore guard Sydney Taylor led UMass with a career-tying 27 points, while senior forward Sam Breen picked up this season’s 14th double-double.
“I am extremely proud of our effort tonight,” said UMass Head Coach Tory Verdi. “I thought our players were tough. Give Fordham a lot of credit, they have been a team to beat. We did a great job, especially in the second half of just finding a way. We executed down the stretch, we were tough, we were able to limit them to being one-and-done. The players have played a lot of minutes and had a ton of fight and want to. They have a lot of pride for what they’re doing.”
Both teams traded the lead throughout the first half with Fordham going ahead up at halftime after a Megan Jonassen offensive rebound set DeWolfe up for a 3-point basket and Heremaia made a layup with five seconds remaining to put the Rams up by three.
Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year Anna DeWolfe led Fordham with 25 points before she departed the game due to injury. Both Kaitlyn Downey and Kate McLoughlin added 10 points. Kendell Heremaia grabbed eight rebounds and recorded seven assists.
Massachusetts was looking for a strong end to its third quarter and after Fordham missed a shot at the end of the shot clock, Sam Breen locked eyes with teammate Sydney Taylor. Taylor faked as if she was going to set a screen then back cut as Breen through a baseball pass. Though the pass was long, Taylor chased it down and her layup placed UMass up by seven points over its opponent, Fordham.
“I thought that was the one that literally changed the momentum of the game,” Verdi said.
Massachusetts' attack was on display as it scored 22 fastbreak points.
“UMass came to play, they were down numbers wise and their kids stepped up,” Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “It’s our second game in a month, so who knows if we had more games under our belt. It seems like shots we normally hit we weren’t hitting. We weren’t as sharp defensively but that credit goes to UMass. Tory’s team did a fantastic job.”
Fordham was able to cut its deficit to as low as three points in the final quarter, but Breen closed strongly with 10 points.
“When a play’s run for you, you really don’t want to mess it up,” Breen said. “Just having that what’s next mentality because I definitely missed a few pretty easy ones early on. When you get that play call it is having that scoring mentality, figuring out what you have to do and that your team and coaches trust you.”
Fordham had a 4:13 fourth-quarter scoreless streak, which allowed UMass to go back in front by double figures and secure the victory.
UMass advances to face either third-seeded Saint Louis or sixth-seeded Richmond in an Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal contest. The game is Saturday at 4 p.m. and televised on CBS Sports Network.