AMHERST — It took a half to get their legs going, but once the UMass women’s basketball team found their rhythm against Richmond on Wednesday, the Minutewomen simply could not be stopped. 

UMass held off the Spiders in a 73-69 victory at the Mullins Center, improving to 18-4 on the season and 8-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. It was the seventh win in a row for the Minutewomen.

Makennah White paced the effort with a double-double, putting up 13 points and grabbing 10 boards. Five UMass players finished in double digits – White, Sam Breen (21 points), Ber’Nyah Mayo (14), Sydney Taylor and Destiney Philoxy (10). Addie Budnik did her best for the visitors, scoring 27 points, but it wasn’t enough for the Spiders. 

“Every night it's not going to be as pretty as the last few games. Everything went our way against Duquesne, everything went our way against VCU. But teams come in and they prep for you. We're going to get their best and I felt we got their best,” UMass head coach Tory Verdi said of Richmond. “We didn't play our best but we still found the way to win.”

UMass took an early lead off a Philoxy 3-pointer and went up 5-4 off a Mayo bucket, but from there the Spiders took over. Budnik was lights out for Richmond in the first half, sinking five triples on six attempts, four of those in the first quarter alone, including a buzzer-beater triple that gave the visitors a 23-17 lead after 10 minutes. 

UMass kept it close in the second quarter, staying within striking distance, but the hosts couldn’t gain an advantage. The Spiders kept pace with the Minutewomen on the glass and outscored them 7-3 over the final four minutes to take a 37-31 lead heading into halftime. 

“We made some adjustments defensively (at halftime), especially on the on-ball screen…we mixed it up, and then late in the fourth, we mixed up what we were doing defensively. We gave them two different schemes, and I think that kind of confused them as well,” Verdi said. “That kept them second-guessing what we're doing, and I think it bothered them a little bit down the stretch.”

The Minutewomen kept up that trend in the third quarter, pulling back within two points  before Richmond hit a pair of triples 40 seconds apart that forced a UMass timeout down 46-38 with just over six minutes left in the period. 

After a Richmond timeout, UMass finally went on a spree; the home team outscored the visitors 10-2 in the final three and a half minutes of the third, trailing just 52-51 but ready to retake the lead. 

A layup from White a minute into the fourth quarter gave the Minutewomen their first lead since the first quarter, sparking a 7-0 run. White reeled off all 13 of her points in the second half, and despite a late triple from Budnik to pull the Spiders with three with six seconds remaining, UMass secured the win. 

“I thought her toughness and her overall will – we were in timeouts and her positivity was unbelievable. I told her at the end of the game in front of the team how proud I was of her,” Verdi said on White. “Because regardless, she was like ‘We got this, we got this, all we’ve got to do is keep talking, we're gonna win.’ And that becomes infectious.”

Next up is a road game at La Salle on Saturday at 2 p.m.

]]>