The UMass women's basketball team is coming back from an A10 tournament that was both successful and disappointing; the Minutewomen did reach their third consecutive title game, but couldn’t defend their title against No. 3 St. Louis in a 91-85 overtime loss earlier this month.

That loss meant the Billikens earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while UMass was one of the first four teams left out of the field for an at-large bid. Now the team will turn its attention to the WNIT instead, where it will meet Albany in the opening round. UMass will get to host the Great Danes at the Mullins Center on Friday night, with tip-off starting at 7 p.m. The game will also be available to stream on ESPN-Plus.

Like UMass, Albany fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA tournament with a conference championship game defeat. The Great Danes’ comeback attempt against No. 1 Vermont wasn’t enough in a 38-36 loss in the championship game in the America East tournament.

On paper, the Minutewomen should have a clear edge. UMass averages 75.7 points per night while the Great Danes average 58.4 points per game, and the Minutewomen outrebound UAlbany by an average of six boards a game. 

The Great Danes’ top scorers are Helene Haegerstrand (14.4 ppg) and Kayla Cooper (15.1 ppg); Cooper is also the team’s leading rebounder, averaging 8.2 boards per game. Those two players were named to the AE’s All-Conference First Team, while graduate student Ellen Hahne made the All-Conference Third Team and the All-Defensive Team. 

CHASING HISTORY AGAIN 

Despite the disappointment in not making the NCAA tournament, the Minutewomen do have a chance to make some more history during the remainder of the postseason. One more win will set a new program record for victories in a season. Currently, UMass’ 26 wins is tied with the record they set last year. 

“We can't dwell on the past. We have a great opportunity in front of us to win a championship. We’re in a tournament with a lot of great teams and we have the opportunity to continue to make history,” UMass coach Tory Verdi said. “That (record) is something else that we achieved last year, to do it again and take it a step further, that's a great thing... We're excited, and I expect them to be at their best on Friday night.” 

TAYLOR HEALING UP

Sydney Taylor revealed on Twitter after the A10 tournament that she’d been playing with a fractured bone underneath her eye. The senior sustained the injury in the final game of the regular season, but didn’t miss a game because of it. She’s had almost a full two weeks to heal more since then, and she’s slowly working her way back to normal. 

“Her eye looks really good. It's still on the mend. You can still obviously see some residual, if you will, but as far as the healing process, she looks good on the court,” Verdi said. “She's been aggressive here in the last couple of days in practice. She's been herself, so that was good.” 

HEEPS RETURNS TO MULLINS

One player on the Great Danes roster might look familiar to UMass fans. Before she laced up for the Great Danes, Grace Heeps was playing ball for the Minutewomen her freshman year. During her lone year at UMass, she averaged 6.4 minutes a game over 17 contests. 

Now a senior, Heeps is a starter at Albany. This season, she’s averaging 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game and has started all but one of the Great Danes’ games. 

“Grace, the one thing that we know about her she can shoot the ball, so I'm going to make sure that we're there on catches and can't give her any open looks because she can knock down the three ball,” Verdi said. “But as far as defending her or doing anything differently, that's not my concern. My concern is that we’ve just got to play great defense.”

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