Before the UMass women’s basketball team can look ahead to its Atlantic-10 Conference schedule, one more opponent stands in its way.
The Minutewomen will wrap up their non-conference schedule against Dartmouth on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center. Overall, the reigning A-10 champs have had a strong showing in their first half of the season. Currently, UMass has a 9-3 record, with losses to Tennessee, Missouri and Columbia. With three Power-5 schools on its non-conference schedule, UMass expected to have some tough games mixed into the schedule.
“I think we’re right where we wanted to be. When you have 13 (non-conference) games, you want to win at least 10 of them. I know that there’s a lot of coaches out there who would really like to be in our place, and especially when you look at who we played,” UMass head coach Tory Verdi said. “I think that our schedule and what we did, we did it purposely to help prepare us for conference play. I think it will pay dividends down the road.”
On paper, Dartmouth should be a fairly manageable opponent for the Minutewomen. The Big Green are just 2-11 on the year, and are riding a four-game losing streak heading into Wednesday’s game. Most recently, Dartmouth fell to No. 13 Iowa in a 94-52 loss.
The two teams haven’t played in almost a decade – the last matchup between them came in 2013, when Dartmouth walked away with a close 76-72 win. The last time UMass won against the Big Green was at the turn of the millennium, back on Nov. 28, 2000.
Leading the way for Dartmouth in scoring is Victoria Page, who has posted 135 points over 13 games this season, starting in 10 of them. Senior Allie Harland is also riding a six-game three-point streak.
For the home team, the usual suspects should step up against the Big Green. Sydney Taylor, Ber’Nyah Mayo and Destiney Philoxy have been reliable for the Minutewomen, along with double-double machine Sam Breen, who is four away from recording 50 career double-doubles. UMass has also had reliable minutes from their bench this season, with players like Makennah White, Alexzeya Brooks and Laila Fair stepping up when needed.
With the good has come some bad – the non-conference schedule has been wildly inconsistent in terms of playing time as nearly everyone on the roster has had to deal with injuries. Only four players – Breen, Philoxy, Mayo and Brooks – have played in all 12 games this year, and even they haven’t completely escaped the injury bug. Philoxy dealt with an ankle injury early in the season that slowed her down, even if it didn’t take her off the court completely.
“It’s been frustrating for me because it’s been like a roller coaster. It’s been different personnel-wise, who’s in and who’s out. We haven’t really gotten that flow,” Verdi said. “Especially with substitutions and getting that pattern because of injuries and so forth. So it’s been strategically difficult for me.”
Luckily, everyone was fully healthy last week with the exception of Piath Gabriel, who sprained her ankle for the second time this season and was day-to-day; it’s unclear if she’ll dress against Dartmouth.
The Minutewomen will open their A-10 conference schedule on New Year’s Eve, when they host St. Bonaventure at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mullins Center.