Danella ties record with 7 3-pointers in drubbing of NU
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AMHERST - University of Massachusetts women's basketball coach Marnie Dacko hopes that Saturday's breakout game by freshman Kristina Danella is a springboard to a more balanced attack by the Minutewomen.
In her 11th game at UMass, Danella scored 25 points and tied the school record for 3-pointers with seven as she led the Minutewomen to an 80-51 win over Northeastern at the Mullins Center. She shares that mark with Beth Kuzmeski of Northampton, who made seven in 1995 against Dartmouth.
In 10 previous games, Danella had scored a total of 26 points for UMass which improved to 6-5 with its largest margin of victory this season. On Saturday, Danella was 7-for-11 from behind the 3-point line, missed her only two-point attempt and made four of five free throws.
"She shoots this way every day at practice," Dacko said. "It's no surprise to me. I personally feel that she's one of the best freshmen in our league - no doubt about it.
"She's an inside-outside player," Dacko added. "A great post player who's very crafty around the basket."
Danella, who played for a state champion at Red Bank Catholic in New Jersey as a high school junior, said it's taken some time to adjust to the pace of the college game.
Her confidence increased "as soon as I started making shots" Saturday, Danella said. "My coaches keep saying shoot the ball, and today my shot was on."
Senior Stefanie Gerardot added 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and redshirt sophomore Diatiema Hill registered career highs with 11 points and eight assists and matched her best with eight rebounds.
The Minutewomen made 14-of-29 3-point attempts, and for the fourth time this season set or tied the school mark for 3s in a game.
The previous high was 11 at Brown Dec. 7 and at Colorado Nov. 28. While the long-distance sharpshooting by UMass fueled a 23-point second-half edge over the Huskies (2-6), Dacko saw plenty of other good signs in the Minutewomen's performance. There were 23 assists on 29 baskets, as senior Sakera Young joined Hill with eight.
The 17 turnovers committed by UMass was down from the 20.3 the Minutewomen averaged in their first 10 games.
UMass outrebounded Northeastern 43 to 32, and seven Minutewomen had at least three boards.
And the UMass defense held the top two Huskies' scorers who played, Kim Carr and Kendra Walton, to eight and seven points, respectively. Northeastern was led by Kashaia Cannon with 13 points.
"This game was really good defensively," said Gerardot. "To shut their main scorers down really helped."
Gerardot set the tone early with a trio of 3-pointers in the first six minutes, 33 seconds, each of which gave UMass the lead. There were 11 lead changes 8:37 into the game, until Danella's first 3-pointer put the Minutewomen ahead for good at 18-17.
UMass pushed its lead to 33-24 on a 3-pointer by Cerie Mosgrove with 4:28 remaining in the half, but after Walton answered with a 3, neither team scored for the final 4:12 before intermission. The Minutewomen missed eight shots during that period.
A layup by Walton drew the Huskies within 33-29 in the first minute after the break, but they got no closer.
Three-pointers by Gerardot and Danella capped two 10-point runs midway through the second half, and the lead peaked at 80-49 on a layup by Emilie Teuscher.
UMass scored 28 points in the paint and the bench contributed 38, which were also good signs for Dacko. She wants her team to establish its inside game and find other scorers to complement Gerardot who is averaging 16.3 points per game.
With four nonconference games to go before opening Atlantic 10 play, Dacko also wants the Minutewomen to play stronger defensively - "get bodies on people, box out and control the boards."
And she is looking for more consistency from her young team which has just two seniors - Gerardot and Young - and two returning starters - Gerardot and junior Kim Benton.
Still, said Gerardot, "If we play like we did today - inside-out, balanced scoring, limit the turnovers - we'll be hard to beat."
NOTES: There were 517 fans at the Mullins Center for the first game of a doubleheader before the Minutemen played Hofstra.
UMass is now 16-12 all-time against Northeastern.
The Minutewomen have eight days off before resuming play at 1 p.m. Dec. 29 against Seton Hall at the Mullins Center.
Stanley Moulton, the Gazette's sports editor, can be reached at smoulton@gazettenet.com.
