Xavier overpowers Minutewomen
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AMHERST - Xavier's inside tandem of Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips were every bit as good as advertised, and the University of Massachusetts couldn't slow them down as the Minutewomen fell to the No. 8 Musketeers 81-55 on Sunday at the Mullins Center.
Most of the UMass roster was giving away several inches to the 6-foot-5 Harris and the 6-foot-6 Phillips, giving Xavier a huge edge in the paint.
Harris finished with 19 points, 18 rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots, while Phillips had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Their combined total on the glass matched UMass' team output as the Musketeers outrebounded UMass 63-33.
The Musketeers turned 26 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points.
"Our energy on the glass was terrific and that certainly played a big part in this game," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said. "That's a big part of our identity so that's what we expect of our team. They play so well together. When they're playing like they did today on the glass, they feed off each other."
This was first-year UMass coach Sharon Dawley's first time seeing them live.
"That size is just remarkable having those two bigs on the floor at the same time," Dawley said. "It's unbelievable, how good they are, how strong they are, how athletic they are."
Cerie Mosgrove led UMass (5-13, 1-2 Atlantic 10) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
"Cerie got her shooting confidence back. If you can be confident against Xavier, you can be confident against anybody. That was a good thing," Dawley said.
Sophomore Jasmine Watson scored eight of her 15 points in the second half and blocked five shots. Dawley praised her center's ability to gain confidence as the game progressed despite the tough opponent.
"I thought Jas started being aggressive offensively in the second half," Dawley said. "If she gets aggressive on the offensive end she's going to be a player. The first half was a little cautious. In the second half she was very solid down low. I thought she did a great job."
The Minutewomen host Saint Louis in the annual "Field Trip Day" game Wednesday at 11:45 a.m.
Mosgrove's 3-point shooting kept the Minutewomen in the game early. She had four of UMass' five first half threes. But once the outside shots stopped falling the Minutewomen struggled to find offense. UMass led 10-7 early, but Xavier scored 14 straight points to take control of the game. The Musketeers scored the last five points of the first half to take a 42-27 halftime lead and a the first 11 of the second half to end any suspense.
"We were down anyway and to face a run like that is kind of the knockout blow," Dawley said. "The bunnies we missed will haunt us. If we make those, they don't make that run."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
